Australia/Israel Review
Components of a Coalition
Apr 7, 2021 | AIJAC staff
(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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