Israeli PM presents new ruling coalition to president

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　　"As you know, I formed a government. You gave me the mission, and I accomplished² it," Netanyahu was quoted as telling Peres by Israeli media, "We are facing a decisive year in security, the economy and efforts to promote peace, as well as the desire of Israeli citizens to bring change."

　　After weeks of intense negotiations³, Netanyahu's Likud-Beytenu party signed coalition deals with Yesh Atid (There is a Future) and the Jewish Home party, Netanyahu's major political allies.

　　Netanyahu was first given 28 days by Peres to form a coalition and then received a 14-day extension on March 2, ending on this Saturday. The new government is due to be inaugurated on Monday.

　　On Friday, after the coalition agreements were signed, Netanyahu wrote on his official Facebook page that the new government would "work together with cooperation for the sake of all Israel's citizens."

　　"We will work to strengthen the security of Israel and improve the quality of life for its citizens," he added.

　　Netanyahu was tasked with forming a government following the Jan. 22 elections, in which his Likud-Beytenu party received 31 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament).

　　Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid, chiefs of the Jewish Home and Yesh Atid parties respectively, have received the same amount of seats combined and formed an alliance. The alliance was based on issuing a new bill to conscript young ultra-Orthodox into the army and equalize the burden of military service among the Israeli society as well as improving the citizens' financial welfare.

　　Because of their insistence⁴ on those issues, the ultra-Orthodox parties, which were obvious contenders to join the government, were pushed out of Netanyahu's coalition.

　　The main issues that have stalled negotiations in recent days was the fight between Yesh Atid and the Likud party over the education ministry⁵, as well as Lapid's demand to lower the amount of ministers in the government, succeeding in both tasks.

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