Israel's government of national religious extremism

The last-minute refusal of Avigdor Lieberman, who served as foreign minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's previous government, to participate in his latest coalition will not change its identity or expected policy.

But his departure from the process will weaken the secular-nationalist wing in favour of the religious wings, both the ultra-orthodox, represented by Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), and the nationalist-religious, represented by the Jewish Home party of Naftali Bennett.

The blow Lieberman dealt Netanyahu in the last few hours before the deadline to form the government creates the impression that the prime minister's fourth coalition will be vulnerable to shock tactics and blackmail by the religious parties.

But the opportunistic controls inherent in Israeli politics are likely to give the new government at least two years or more, as was the case with his second government, which lasted almost the full four-year term, against all the odds.

Following Lieberman's withdrawal, Netanyahu made use of what, before the election, he referred to as his "natural allies" among the ultra-orthodox and national religious camps.

Less than an hour before the legal deadline, Netanyahu and Bennett announced on television that agreement had been reached. The prime minister announced that negotiations had led to a deal with Jewish Home and that the remaining details would be finalised over the coming days.

Minutes later, he called President Rivlin and the Speaker of Parliament to inform them of the agreement ahead of presenting the government in its final form next week.

Bennett said his party would work to ensure the new government completed its full term. Jewish Home has gained the Justice, Education, Diaspora Affairs and Agriculture portfolios. It will have three representatives in the full cabinet and one in the Security Cabinet.

Despite the crisis provoked by Bennett the day before, he was always unlikely to take the risk of staying out of a Likud-led government, which would have given electoral victory to the "left-Zionist camp", led by Yitzhak Herzog. At the very least, it would have left the door open to the formation of a Likud-Labour "national unity government" without either himself or Lieberman.

A triumph for Jewish Home

Jewish Home has been given a place in the Security Cabinet this time around through Ayalet Shaked's appointment as justice minister.

This represents a triumph for Naftali Bennett, who had been subjected to scathing criticisms from some party supporters after the election, when Jewish Home party managed to retain only eight of its 14 seats in the Knesset.

What applies to Bennett in this new government also applies to Shas leader Aryeh Der'i, who has returned after years of exclusion from politics after his conviction for bribery and two years in jail. Like UTJ, Shas was excluded from Netanyahu's previous coalition.

Indeed, that government introduced a series of legislative changes detrimental to the ultra-orthodox constituencies, including reduced allowances for children, criminal sanctions on avoidance of conscription and civil laws reducing ultra-orthodox powers over defining the Jewish identity of Russian immigrants.

Netanyahu's fourth coalition partner is Moshe Kahlon of Kulanu.

He will be busy through the government's term of office with trying to fulfil his promise of saving the Israeli citizen from the high cost of living and rectifying the housing crisis, as well as reforming the Israeli banking system.

This is likely to leave Netanyahu a freer hand over foreign policy, particularly since Kahlon himself has repeatedly declared that he represents the traditional values of the Likud, as represented by party founder Menachem Begin, the sixth prime minister of Israel.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.