Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

June 16, 2021

Israel Effectively Has Two Prime Ministers, and This Arrangement May Become the Norm

A constitutional revolution?

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:

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