Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to challenge a deal to wreck a deal to oust him from power, experts said Thursday.
Netanyahu is expected to do everything in his power to abort the deal. He is expected to approach Yamina members, who have been openly opposed to joining forces with Arab and liberal politicians. Experts said Netanyahu could still derail the deal but it is very unlikely he will be able to do so in time.
"Calm down. Netanyahu's still prime minister for a few more days until the confidence vote and he's going to fight every inch of the way to deny the new government its wafer-thin majority. This is still very far from over," the liberal Haaretz newspaper wrote.
The new coalition government will be composed of small and medium parties representing different political ideologies. It also includes - for the first time in the country's history - a party that represents Israel's Arab minority.
Detractors of the plan said the coalition will likely not last long given the incompatibility of its members. However, some analysts said the coalition is a great reflection of the growing complexity of Israeli society.
A few minutes before the midnight Wednesday deadline, centrist Yair Lapid informed the president a deal had been made to form the unity government. President Reuven Rivlin, who was attending Israel's soccer cup final when he received the email, issued formal congratulations to Lapid.
Lapid has been working to form a governing coalition following Netanyahu's failure after the country's March 23 elections. Lapin had pledged to form the unity government, which he said would "return sanity" to the country.
"This government will work for all Israel's citizens, those who voted for it and those who did not. It will respect its opponents and do all it can to unites and connect all parts of Israeli society," Lapid previously said.
The new unity government, which only controls a thin majority in parliament, is expected to be sworn within the next two weeks. Political experts said Netanyahu's camp still has the chance to derail it if they can turn some lawmakers over to their side.
