Binyamin Netanyahu vows to protect Israel from the virus

BINYAMIN NETANYAHU, Israel’s prime minister for the past 11 years, is never one to waste a crisis. In recent days he has used his televised briefings on the covid-19 pandemic to exhort the leader of the opposition, Benny Gantz, to join an emergency unity government—under Mr Netanyahu, of course. The prime minister seems undeterred by the failure of his coalition of nationalist and religious parties to win a majority in the parliamentary election on March 2nd (see chart), or by the charges of bribery and fraud that he faces.On March 16th Mr Gantz was given the first shot at forming a government, having received the endorsement of 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset (Israel’s parliament). He vowed to “form a national unity government, as broad as possible, within days”. But his allies are united only in their desire to replace Mr Netanyahu. They include Yisrael Beiteinu, a Jewish nationalist party led by Avigdor Lieberman, and the Joint List, an alliance of Arab-majority parties that is now the third-biggest bloc in the Knesset. They are unlikely to sit in government together. Even some in Mr Gantz’s own party, Blue and White, oppose a government that is supported by Arab lawmakers.