Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday asked President Isaac Herzog for a two-week extension of the deadline initially set for forming a coalition government.
Arrived at the top of the legislative elections of 1er November with his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies, Benjamin Netanyahu was officially appointed on November 13 to form a government within the following 28 days, with the possibility, however, of asking Mr. Herzog for an additional 14 days.
His request comes three days before the first deadline of December 11.
“There are still questions that have not been resolved” concerning the appointments, wrote Mr. Netanyahu in a letter to the president, which his services made public.
“We are in the middle of negotiations and have made a lot of progress, but judging by the pace of things, I will need all the days of extension provided by law to form a government,” he added. .
Last week, Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party signed coalition agreements with the three far-right parties – Religious Zionism, Jewish Force and Noam – having elected deputies.
But to form his government, Mr. Netanyahu still had to agree with the two ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism (UJT, Ashkenazi) and Shas (Sephardi), which he partly did.
After reaching an agreement with the UJT on Wednesday on the granting of positions, the Likud announced Thursday an agreement in principle with Shass, under which the ultra-Orthodox formation would be granted five ministerial portfolios.
According to this announcement, the leader of Shass, Arieh Dery, would be “Minister of Health and Interior during the first part of the government’s mandate, then Minister of Finance”, in addition to a post of Deputy Prime Minister.
But for that, the Likud must change a law allowing the appointment of Minister Arieh Dery, charged and convicted of fraud.
Sentenced in 1999 to three years in prison for fraud, Arieh Dery had been accused again of tax evasion in 2021, but had benefited from an agreement with justice. Re-elected in November, he can by law sit in Parliament, but not receive a ministerial portfolio.
In the delicate ongoing negotiations, Netanyahu has been forced to give sensitive portfolios to controversial figures.
The Likud has thus signed agreements with the controversial Itamar Ben Gvir with anti-Palestinian rhetoric, under which the latter would occupy the post of Minister of National Security, and with Avi Maoz, known for his hypernationalist and anti-LGBTQ positions.
The allocation of portfolios to members of his own party has not yet been finalized.