Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not celebrating today. President Reuven Rivlin tapped him this morning to form the next government, but Netanyahu knows that the task is going to be complicated, perhaps impossible. Rivlin himself said at a press conference, "I am under the impression that none of the candidates have a chance to form a coalition."
Netanyahu now enjoys the endorsement of 52 Knesset members. His difficulty will not only be gathering 61 of them to support him and form a stable coalition. He will also have to thwart efforts by Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett to form their own coalition.