2021 Israeli elections

Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas at the Islamist party's campaign headquarters in the northern city of Tamra on March 23, 2021. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

August 11, 2022, 6:06 pm

Netanyahu reportedly offered Ra’am’s Abbas ‘exclusivity’ on Arab issues in coalition

Arab Israeli lawmaker said to have been approached by Shas chief Aryeh Deri on behalf of ex-PM last year in a last-ditch effort to prevent Bennett’s ‘change government’

By TOI staff

Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Yamina party, and his wife Galit vote in the city of Ra'anana, Israel, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

April 6, 2022, 10:37 pm

As coalition teeters, polls show Likud rise, but election might again yield gridlock

Surveys suggest Netanyahu could form a government if joined by Yamina after new national vote — but it is not clear that such an alliance would be viable

By TOI staff

Naftali Bennett, head of Yamina, with Yamina MKs and supporters at the party headquarters in Petah Tikva, on election night, March 23, 2021. (Avi Dishi/Flash90)

April 6, 2022, 7:56 pm

How Naftali Bennett doomed his own coalition

The Yamina PM’s fatal political failure was in choosing a Knesset slate that, unlike those of all his 7 coalition partners, has proved unwilling to follow its leader

By David Horovitz

December 6, 2021, 10:50 pm

Bennett agrees to pay strategist who says he advised him during last election

PM’s lawyer reaches settlement with attorney of Udi Raiter, after long insisting that no compensation had been promised

By TOI staff

Opposition Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu (left) walks next to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during the vote on the state budget, in the Knesset on November 4, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

December 5, 2021, 11:39 pm

New poll shows Bennett-Lapid government unpopular, but no other viable options

A plurality of Israelis prefer the former coalition to the current one, but new elections would only produce fresh deadlock

By TOI staff

Coalition leaders at a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem during a debate on the Palestinian family reunification law, on July 6, 2021 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

October 5, 2021, 4:18 am

Poll shows increased support for Likud, Yesh Atid; coalition dips slightly

Survey published by Channel 13 indicates largest party in each bloc picking up support from its smaller partners; new elections would again be inconclusive

By TOI staff

Minister of Defense Benny Gantz speaks with Likud parliament member Miki Zohar during a vote at the Knesset, on August 24, 2020. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL vis Flash 90)

July 19, 2021, 7:45 pm

Likud seeks to convince Gantz to bolt government, replace Bennett as PM

MK Zohar says defense minister ‘can be prime minister right now’ if he agrees to form an alternate coalition with right-wing parties

By Raoul Wootliff

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu leads a meeting of right-wing parties in the Knesset on June 14, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

June 18, 2021, 6:51 pm

Netanyahu knows he’s no victim of election fraud. So why peddle the claim?

There’s more to the opposition leader’s rejection of the new government’s legitimacy than Trumpian denial. Victimhood, he well knows, has its uses

By Haviv Rettig Gur

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrives for a group photo of the new Israeli government at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on June 14, 2021 (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

June 14, 2021, 6:38 am

New government starts process of taking power after 12 years of Netanyahu

Cabinet to convene at Rivlin’s residence for festive photo; outgoing PM will brief successor but skip traditional toast; Sa’ar concedes challenge in holding new coalition together

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (R) and Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at the new government's first cabinet meeting, held at the Knesset on June 13, 2021. (Gil COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)

June 14, 2021, 12:31 am

At first cabinet meeting, Bennett, Lapid vow to work to make new government last

Incoming prime minister says ‘we are at the start of new days’; alternative PM: ‘Friendship and trust’ are foundation of coalition and only that will keep it in power

By Raoul Wootliff

Benjamin Netanyahu at the swearing in of the new Israeli government, in the Knesset in Jerusalem on June 13, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)

June 13, 2021, 9:23 pm

After 12 Netanyahu years, transfer of power crucially affirms Israeli democracy

He utilized a formidable array of legitimate political skills to retain the premiership from 2009. Now his opponents have mustered theirs to legitimately consign him to opposition

By David Horovitz

Newly elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett waves, with Yair Lapid (left) and Gideon Sa'ar (right) alongside him, after their new coalition wins Knesset approval, June 13, 2021 (Haim Zach / GPO)

June 13, 2021, 9:22 pm

Bennett sworn in as prime minister, unseating Netanyahu after 12 years in power

Government approved 60-59; Yamina head heckled throughout his Knesset speech; Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid becomes alternate PM; Netanyahu derides new PM and vows: ‘We’ll be back soon’

By Raoul Wootliff

Yair Lapid addresses the Knesset, June 13, 2021. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesperson)

June 13, 2021, 7:34 pm

Full text: The speech Lapid didn’t give at the government’s swearing-in ceremony

Alternate PM-designate opts not to deliver planned appeal for unity, instead says he’s ‘ashamed’ of soon-to-be opposition members for heckling Bennett during his speech

By TOI staff

Prime Minister-designate Naftali Bennett addresses the Knesset, June 13, 2021. (EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)

June 13, 2021, 6:50 pm

Full text: PM-to-be Bennett presents gov’t ‘that will work for the sake of all’

Yamina head lays out priorities of new coalition that he says will work ‘for all the citizens of Israel’ and bring an end to a cycle of elections and divisiveness

By TOI staff

United Torah Judaism leader MK Moshe Gafni at a conference in Jerusalem on March 7, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

June 13, 2021, 4:16 pm

Perhaps Likud should have replaced Netanyahu, says senior Haredi MK

United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni insists his party would have stuck with Likud no matter who was leading the party

By TOI staff