Against what appeared all odds, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz signed an agreement for a unity government. The breakthrough came late Monday shortly before the start of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The agreement brings to a close a political crisis that has lasted a year-and-a-half and has led to an unprecedented three consecutive elections in Israel.
Likud will receive the ministries of treasury, interior, transportation, housing, education, environmental protection, energy, Jerusalem affairs, and other smaller portfolios.
Ynet reports that Blue and White will receive the ministries for defense, justice, aliyah and integration, culture and sports, finance, economy, communications, agriculture, strategic affairs, tourism, social equality and diaspora affairs.
The foreign ministry will be split between Blue and White and Likud with each party running it for half the government’s term.
***Netanyahu appears to have won a victory on the matter of the Judicial Selections Committee, one of the key sticking points. The Likud will have a majority on that committee, which picks judges to the Supreme Court, Israel’s Channel 11 reports. Netanyahu will also have a veto over senior appointments.