Benyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak have come to an agreement for a coalition government, and the Labor Party central committee voted to approve the deal, so it appears that there is now a governing coalition is Israel.

It appears that Netanyahu gave labor much more than just the Defense portfolio:

• 5 Cabinet posts, including the Defense and Trade and Industry Ministries.
• 2 Deputy ministry positions.
• A fairly liberal economic policy, which includes:
• Money for retraining workers
• Funding for child care
• A commitment not to cut salaries in the public sector
• A commitment to increases in benefits for pensioners
• An increased political role for the Histadrut, Israel’s organization of trade unions.

It’s clear from this deal that Netanyahu was desperate to have this, given Labor’s poor showing (only 13 seats), and it also represents a return by the Labor Party to the interests of, well, (small l) labor, which may go a long way towards distinguishing themselves from Kadima.

I think that Netanyahu could have gone right for the coalition, but the idea of actually having to follow up on his hard line rhetoric during the campaign scares him.