Israel's biggest news story of recent months happened in the early hours of May 8: the head of the opposition and new chairman of the centrist Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, agreed to join Benjamin Netanyahu's government, thus postponing the early elections Netanyahu had announced just days before.

The new unity government has 94 members out of 120 members of the Knesset. In exchange for joining the government, Mofaz was promised the title of a Minister Without Portfolio for the (non-existent) peace process with the Palestinians.

The surprising news came as the Israeli public was gearing up for early elections on September 4. The unity government is designed to ensure that the Netanyahu government will remain in power for the next 15 months, and will make it the first government in decades in Israel to complete its full term. Mofaz, who had at first insisted he would never join Netanyahu's government, was apparently worried about taking part in elections since all the polls predicted his party would greatly diminish in power.

Shaul Mofaz. Image posted on Flickr by Tzipi Livni (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Israelis turned to Twitter, Facebook and blogs to comment on the surprising news. Many of them referred to Mofaz's harsh criticism of Netanyahu up until the moment he entered the government under Netanyahu's leadership. For example, on March 3, Mofaz's official Facebook page posted:

Israeli journalist Tal Schneider wrote on her blog about the winners and losers of this deal. Listing Mofaz as a loser, she explained:

Leading leftist blogger Yossi Gurvits commented on the implications of this move for the Kadima party:

Kadima, a party whose motto may well have been, “We took corruption out of Likud (and brought it to a new home),” also seems to be finished. Why would anyone vote for it again? During the 2009 elections, Livni managed to con the voters into believing she would prevent a Netanyahu government. Livni is out of office, but the party is now in Netanyahu’s lap. If Kadima was looking at 10 seats before Mofaz’s latest schtick, it has now sunk near the level of Ehud Barak’s Atzmaut party (which polls at zero seats).

Dr. Yuval Dror, a widely-read Israeli blogger, wrote:

Amir Schiby posted this altered campaign banner for Mofaz, which in a few hours was shared on Facebook over 1,500 times:

Mock campaign banner. Image posted by Amir Schiby on Facebook.

The text reads:

Mofaz. Because everyone can piss from the springboard [Israeli saying that means showing complete disregard]. Shitting from it [on the public] is art.

Minister's chair. Image posted by Gil Osser on Facebook.

An unprecedented sale for members of the Kadima party:

Minister's Chair*

An orthopedic chair made of elephant skin, particularly suitable for the spineless. The chair moves forward [Kadima], backward, right and left and can be found in various colors.

Price: Principles | Payment method: 15 months [the length of time this government will remain in power thanks to the deal]

*The same model sold to members of HaAtzmaut Party in 2011.

Noy Alooshe, the Israeli musician behind Gaddafi's “Zenga Zenga” remix, produced a new remix of footage in which Mofaz proclaims Netanyahu is a liar:

While the overwhelming majority of reactions online were negative, blogger Tal Yaron disagreed. Yaron mentioned the agreement between Mofaz and Netanyahu, which stipulates that the new coalition will pass a law to draft the ultra-Orthodox to military/community service (which they're currently exempt from) and to institute changes in Israel's electoral system: