Likud, Blue and White Say ‘Israeli’ Gov’t to Be Sworn In Next Week

By Staff, Agencies

A Zionist entity’s emergency unity government led by caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Knesset [Parliament] Speaker Benny Gantz will be sworn in next week, the two parties announced late on Wednesday.

According to a joint statement, the government will be sworn in next Wednesday, with the legislative framework put in place to enable the Netanyahu-Gantz rotation in the prime minister's office.

The announcement followed a surprising twist in the drama playing itself out in the Knesset, where the opposition filed thousands of amendments to the legislation enabling the rotation in an apparent attempt to stage a filibuster.

Wednesday's session, however, saw these amendments withdrawn in a surprise for the Blue and White and Likud.

The legislation must pass two more readings in the plenum before the Knesset's mandate expires Thursday midnight. 

Under the unity deal inked by Netanyahu and Gantz, the caretaker PM will be the first one in the rotation, meaning he is supposed to be the one that the Knesset nominates for office.