Australia/Israel Review

Components of a Coalition

Apr 7, 2021 | AIJAC staff

(Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO)
(Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO)

If Israel is to have a new government, a coalition of at least 61 Knesset seats will have to be assembled from the 13 parties that were elected to the Knesset following the March 23 election. Here is the AIR’s guide to those parties, and who they say they will and won’t sit in coalition with. 

 

Party Orientation Leader Seats Previous Coalition stance
Likud Centre-right Binyamin Netanyahu 30 36 Ruled out coalition with Joint List
Yesh Atid Centrist Yair Lapid 17 13 Refuses to enter a coalition with Netanyahu
Shas Ultra-
Orthodox
Arye Deri 9 7 Promised to only join a Netanyahu-led government
Blue & White Centrist Benny Gantz 8 12 Refuses to enter a Netanyahu-led government, open to all other arrangements
Yamina Right-wing Naftali Bennett 7 3 Promised not to join a government led by Yair Lapid or one that depends on the support of anti-Zionist parties
United Torah Judaism Ultra-
Orthodox
Moshe Gafni 7 7 Strongly prefers a Netanyahu-led government, but does not exclude other arrangements
Yisrael Beitenu Secular, right-wing Avigdor Lieberman 7 7 Refuses to enter a government with either Netanyahu or Arab parties
Labor Centre-left Merav Michaeli 7 2 Refuses to join a Netanyahu-led government, or be in coalition with Likud or the Religious Zionist party
Joint List Union of communist and Arab parties Ayman Odeh 6 15 Promised not to support a Netanyahu-led or Likud-led government, or sit in coalition with Religious Zionist party
Religious Zionist Right-wing, national-religious Bezalel Smotrich 6 2 Expected to support a Netanyahu government, refuses to enter government with either Meretz or Joint List
New Hope Right-wing Gideon Sa’ar 6 0 Won’t join a coalition with Netanyahu
Meretz Secular, left-wing Nitzan Horowitz 6 4 Refuses to join a Netanyahu-led government, or work with Likud or Religious Zionist party
Ra’am Arab Islamist Mansour Abbas 4 4 Possibly willing to support a Netanyahu-led government under certain conditions, open to all other options

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