Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the chairman of the opposition Kadima Party struck a deal Tuesday, May 8, to form a unity government, a surprise move that staves off early elections and creates a new coalition with a huge legislative majority, The New York Times reported. According to the three-page agreement that Netanyahu and the opposition leader, Shaul Mofaz, signed after midnight, Mofaz will become a deputy prime minister, standing in for Netanyahu when he is abroad and joining all closed sessions of the cabinet. The unity agreement came hours after the Israeli Parliament took the first steps toward dissolving itself ahead of elections scheduled for Sept. 4 rather than at the end of the government’s term in October 2013.