The current Israeli government is based on a rotation agreement, whereby Naftali Bennett will be prime minister for two years (instead of the usual four-year term), after which Yair Lapid will be prime minister for the next two years. During each politician’s tenure as the premier, the other will have special privileges as “alternate prime minister.” While such an arrangement was first concocted by Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz to form the previous government, it didn’t last and elections were called before Gantz got his turn. To Shmuel Rosner, the fact that the new coalition is following this template amounts to a “constitutional revolution” in the Jewish state:
Bennett is a partial prime minister now; Lapid will be a partial prime minister in two years. In reality, neither can do anything without the consent of the other because of a law that in practice gives each veto power. So the result is something more like the ancient Roman system of two consuls and less like the traditional Israeli system of one prime minister.
[T]here were good reasons for returning to what was supposed to be a one-time arrangement. The problem is that it is now hard to see a future coalition that does not employ the same arrangement.
Clearly, indecision and gridlock are real risks for our political power-sharing future. But there are also potential benefits. While major contentious issues like the fate of the West Bank and the role of religion in society may be hard to settle under these conditions, it may finally be possible to resolve others—including obvious ones, such as passing a budget after two years without one, allowing for some public transportation on the Sabbath, [and] finally dedicating the necessary resources to deal with the surge of crime in Israel’s Arab community.
At a time when polarization is such a grave social and political threat, Israel might have awkwardly stumbled into a remedy: an enforced regime of compromise. If this government is a success—as any Israeli would hope—the result may be the civility and consensus we have been waiting for.
More about: Israeli politics, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid