Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally received the support of a majority of lawmakers to lead a new government on Thursday, paving the way for a controversial power-sharing deal with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
Later in the day, President Reuven Rivlin assigned Netanyahu the task of forming a government within two weeks, after he received the signatures of 72 lawmakers endorsing the Likud party leader as prime minister.
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Israel's parliament, the Knesset, had passed legislation early Thursday approving a new coalition government framework for Netanyahu and Gantz to share the premiership and end a year-long political deadlock.
The legislation, which passed easily in a 72-36 vote, comes a day after Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that it would not intervene in the new arrangement or prevent Netanyahu from leading the government despite a corruption indictment against him.
The decision essentially ended the country's prolonged political stalemate and prevented Israel from being plunged into a fourth consecutive election in just over a year.
Now that Netanyahu has secured a new term in office, there seems to be little to prevent him from moving forward with the plan to apply Israeli law to large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria as early as this summer.
Netanyahu has a friendly ally in the White House and support in Israel's new parliament for his long-promised goal. An expected visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo next week could provide the first indications of his intentions.
For now, the Israeli leader appears set on moving forward. His new coalition agreement allows him to present an annexation proposal to the government as soon as July 1.
