JNS.org – Asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s narrowly established 61-seat coalition government represented “what voters wanted” or “a missed opportunity,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that “even a one-vote majority is a majority.”

Netanyahu’s coalition contains the minimum number of Knesset members that Israeli law requires for a government.

“Our democracy says the Knesset must hold a vote of confidence before a government is sworn in,” Rivlin told Israel Hayom in an interview published Wednesday.

“It is enough to have 61 votes for such a vote of confidence to pass, even if the government depends on a narrow, one-member majority. … That said, the world continues to have doubts as to whether this narrow government would last. People keep asking me about this, and I can feel the sense of bewilderment. But the Israeli democracy calls the shots. I believe that when it comes down to making decisions, it would be best if we had the widest possible consensus on existential issues. But even a one-vote majority is a majority.”