BINYAMIN NETANYAHU is almost certain to head Israel’s next government after Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the country’s third-largest party, the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu, recommended to President Shimon Peres yesterday that the Likud leader be the next prime minister.
Mr Lieberman’s endorsement gave Mr Netanyahu the backing of a majority of 65 members of the 120-seat Knesset.
President Peres, who must recommend a candidate for prime minister, will summon both Mr Netanyahu and foreign minister Tzipi Livni today and inform them of his decision.
Speaking last night after completing consultations with all of the 12 parties that won seats, the president said he would urge the Likud and Kadima leaders to form a broad-based unity government.
Mr Peres’s push comes despite Mr Netanyahu’s rejection of a rotation arrangement and Ms Livni’s reluctance to serve as a junior partner in a right-wing coalition.
Recommending Mr Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman set a condition that the coalition be a unity government based on the three largest parties: Likud, the centrist Kadima, which actually won one more seat than Likud, and his own Yisrael Beiteinu.
Ms Livni rejected such a scenario.
She told Kadima Knesset members that Mr Lieberman’s decision set the foundation for the formation of an extreme right-wing government led by Mr Netanyahu.
“We weren’t elected to legitimise this extreme right-wing government, and we must represent an alternative of hope and go to the opposition.”
After the expected nomination from the president Mr Netanyahu will have a maximum of six weeks to conclude coalition talks.
During the election campaign the Likud leader repeatedly expressed his desire for a broad coalition.
For this to happen he needed either the centrist Kadima or the left-wing Labor to join him. Both parties appear to be heading for the opposition, leaving the Likud leader with a parliamentary majority of only five seats, and essentially at the mercy of any one of the five other smaller parties in the likely coalition.
Such a scenario is a nightmare from Mr Netanyahu’s point of view.
The incoming government faces key decisions over Gaza, a prisoner swap with Hamas, combating rising unemployment, electoral reform, and, above all, a strategy to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear potential.
A narrow right-wing, religious coalition will find it difficult to take any far-reaching decisions.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to work aggressively to promote peace in the Middle East, but diplomatic deadlock on both the Palestinian and Syrian tracks now looks a distinct possibility.
Commentators are already predicting that a narrow Netanyahu government will only last a year to 18 months.