It is Yair Lapid, Israel’s new Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister-in-waiting, who is the key architect of the coalition. Under the coalition deal, Mr. Bennett will be the Prime Minister for the first two years, followed by Mr. Lapid for the remaining two. The political stalemate is over for the time being, and Mr. Netanyahu is not the ‘King Bibi’ of Israel after all. He has been outdone by the far-right political leaders who were once his loyal aides; they include Mr. Bennett, Mr. Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman. Mr. Bennett made his way to active politics in the aftermath of the Lebanon war in 2006.

Source: The Hindu July 07, 2021 18:22 UTC