I have never done many media appearances, but I was delighted to be asked by the BBC to talk about the new Israeli government. It was also picked up by several NPR stations. At least for a while, it can be heard at this TVeyes link. There is also a transcript there, but it is automatically generated and hence not the most reliable. But the audio is really me!
The BBC found me via my F&V post about the government and Twitter!
Update: BBC sent me an MP3 file of the interview.
Fruits and Votes 
That was great. I just learned a ton in 3 minutes!
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Thank you. It was a pretty packed three minutes, for sure! And the host was commendably well prepared and asked good questions.
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It’s interesting to learn that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is a politician whose previous stances were to the right of Netanyahu yet the parliamentary coalition that made him Prime Minister includes leaders from 8 parties. It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens next.
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Indeed, and all seven of those parties are arguably to the “left” of Bennett’s party, with caveats about the complexity of what “left” and “right” mean in the Israeli context.
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It’s easier when the main axis used to refer to ideological difference isn’t as salient as it used to be…
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To JD’s point, yes, that is true. Ian Lustick makes this point quite forcefully. (I do not agree with all the points in this essay, but certainly agree with this one.)
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Good job, great interview. This new government will be in the record books, the Fifth largest party forms the government. Interesting that there is going to be a rotation of Prime Minister. How common is this? Everyone that is part of the governing coalition wants to takes turns to be Prime Minister could theoretically be done. I guess Borgen wasn’t all that strange, looking forward to seeing it in 2022. Is Ra’am part of the government or does it support it from the outside as in confidence and supply or do they have a deputy minister or is it an arrangement like in New Zealand Minister outside cabinet?
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The previous post addressed that last question.
On how common is a rotation, it’s the 4th Israeli government agreement I can think of that calls for rotating the PM. Bear in mind that two of the previous ones did not follow through. There is also the case of Ireland (search this blog for it).
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I think there has only been 3 coalition agreements calling for rotating the premiership in Israel (rather than pre-election agreements that never materialized): 1984-1988 (Peres and Shamir – the rotation took place as agreed, without any constitutional ad-hoc arrangements); 2020 (Netanyahu-Gantz: wasn’t implemented although it was supposodly “bullet proof” through constitutional amendment); 2021 (Bennet-Lapid: remains to be seen; using the mechanism of the Netanyahu-Gantz legal mechanism).
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I thought the coalition formed in 1988 (23rd government), with Shamir as PM, was intended to be a rotation, but broke down in 1990. But maybe that is wrong. It was a “unity” government, but maybe I am mistaken that it was planned that Peres would later be PM during the Knesset term. (In other words, I am conflating “unity” and “rotational” which I should not!)
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I certainly hope you took the chance to slip a virus into their computer that will force them to call you back any time a BCC journalist utters any of a number of triggering sentences such as FPTP provides strong, stable government.
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Ha, yes, of course.
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What happens if there was an election where the incumbent was returned to power with 35% and absolute majority, but the largest party at 37% failed to win a majority, then the same problem happens again with the incumbent getting 34% with absolute majority and the largest party gets 36% and fails to win a majority, this theoretical election produced a stable government, is this acceptable?
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