Israel moves toward governing deal

Members of the Israeli parliament elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival as their new speaker on Thursday. The surprising move to select opposition leader Benny Gantz split his Blue and White party but sparked hope that he and the prime minister would form a coalition government. Israel has had a caretaker government since April of last year after Gantz and Netanyahu failed to reach an agreement.

What does this mean? Before parliament elected him speaker, Gantz refused to join Netanyahu’s government. But the coronavirus pandemic motivated Israeli leaders to work together. The country has more than 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday. “These are unusual times and they call for unusual decisions,” Gantz told parliament.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about shifting U.S. attitudes toward Israel.