Israel on Edge as Politicians Wrangle Over Coalition to Oust Netanyahu

Opposition politicians spent Monday locked in last-minute negotiations to form a bloc to force out Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s political class was locked in frenzied horse trading on Monday, as opposition politicians struggled to strike a coalition deal to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn was waging a last-ditch effort to cling to power. The bartering put a spotlight on the fragmentation of the Israeli political system, in which the short-term fate of the Israeli state — nearly paralyzed after four elections in two years, unsettled by a recent war and civil unrest, bruised by the pandemic and constrained by the lack of a state budget — was in the hands of a panoply of small political parties haggling over control of minor government offices like the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The granular nature of the discussions belied their dramatic implication: Mr. Netanyahu — Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, and the man who has shaped contemporary Israel more than any other citizen — has never been so close to losing office. And yet, with just two days remaining for the opposition to secure a deal, his departure is still far from a foregone conclusion.