Veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday the formation of a government with his ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies, returning to power at the head of the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.
Text: RFI / AFP
“I inform (President Isaac Herzog) that I have been able to form a government,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office, released just half an hour before the deadline to reach a pact with other formations expired.
Netanyahu’s Likud party came first in the November 1 legislative elections, the fifth in three and a half years.
In these elections, the Likud obtained 32 seats in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), its ultra-Orthodox allies 18 and the Religious Zionism alliance 14, a record for the extreme right.
After the elections, the president gave Netanyahu the mandate to form a government, for which he entered into discussions with his allies to distribute the ministerial portfolios.
Netanyahu, 73, who faces charges of corruption in the justice system, has been the longest-serving head of government in Israeli history, first from 1996 to 1999 and then from 2009 to 2021.
In 2021 he was defeated by an ideologically scattered coalition that faltered a year later.
The prime minister-elect had until December 11 to announce the new Executive. He asked for a two-week extension but President Herzog only granted him ten days.
Analysts believe that the government will be the most right-wing in the country’s history, as it will include the two ultra-orthodox parties Unified Torah Judaism (UJT) and Shass (Sephardic), as well as the three far-right formations Religious Zionism, Fuerza Jewish and Noam.
Some analysts expected Netanyahu to quickly form a government after the election, given Likud’s ideological affinity with its right-wing allies.
But the negotiations dragged on and Netanyahu had to balance the demands of senior cabinet officials, some of which he was forced to concede.
Among his most controversial moves is a promise to hand over the National Security ministry to the head of the Jewish Force party, Itamar Ben Gvir, known for his inflammatory rhetoric against Arabs.
*Read also: Benjamin Netanyahu tosses a new mandate in Israel with far-right allies
Pending tasks for Netanyahu
It was not initially clear when the new government would be installed, although Netanyahu told Herzog that he intended to do so “as soon as possible.”
There could be delays due to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and because Parliament has pending tasks.
Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Shass party, has been promised the Interior and Health portfolios, but according to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Deri cannot serve in the cabinet because of tax convictions.
Parliament plans to pass laws to circumvent that obstacle, but has failed to do so despite Netanyahu and his allies holding 64 of the 120 seats.
Ben Gvir is also expected to take control of the border police, which supports the army in annexed East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Ben Gvir has been accused of stirring up tensions and has urged security forces to use more force to contain the Palestinian unrest.
On Tuesday, a senior US official said on condition of anonymity that Washington plans to hold a meeting in early 2023 between Israel and Arab countries that recognize it to pressure Netanyahu’s right-wing government to show restraint.
The attorney general questioned the new government’s intended legislative agenda, noting that some of its measures would make Israel “a democracy in name, but not in essence.”
“The politicization of security will be a serious blow to the most fundamental principles of the rule of law, which are equality, the absence of arbitrariness, and impartiality,” Baharav-Miara warned.
Post Views: 69
