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Israeli President Isaac Herzog officially tasked Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a new government on Sunday, after consulting with the parties elected to the Knesset, in the November 1 parliamentary elections.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who won Israel’s parliamentary elections with his far-right allies, was officially appointed Sunday to form a government, a victory for the former prime minister, who had vowed to return to power.
“I give you the mandate to form a government,” President Isaac Herzog announced with Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, during a press conference at the presidential residence in Jerusalem. “I will be the prime minister of all, of those who have voted for us and of the others. This is my responsibility,” he added.
Netanyahu will have 28 days to assemble his ministerial team, with an additional 14 days if needed.
It was the outgoing centrist prime minister, Yair Lapid, who had unseated Benjamin Netanyahu from power in June 2021 by bringing together a motley coalition of right, center, left and Arab parties, all determined to end the reign of the prime minister who most time lasted in the history of Israel, from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021.
Relegated to the rank of leader of the opposition and accused of corruption in a series of cases and with a trial underway, whom everyone calls ‘Bibi’, he promised after his defeat in the legislative elections of March 2021 “to overthrow the Government to the first chance.”
The most right-wing government in Israel’s history?
Immediately after the announcement of the results of the legislative elections on November 1, the fifth in Israel in three and a half years, Benjamin Netanyahu began discussing with his allies the distribution of ministerial portfolios.
With its right-wing Likud party winning 32 Knesset seats, its ultra-Orthodox allies 18, and the “Religious Zionism” alliance 14, a record for the far right, this government could be the most right-wing in the Israeli history.
Among the ultra-Orthodox, the leader of the Sephardic Shass party, Arieh Dery, energized by his 11 seats, has his sights set on Finance or the Interior, according to the press. Arieh Dery was convicted of tax fraud in 2021 and had previously been jailed for corruption.
The far-right alliance “Religious Zionism” asked the Ministry of Defense for its leader Bezalel Smotrich, while Itamar Ben Gvir, its number 2, points to the Interior Security portfolio.
Controversial figures of the extreme right
According to the Israeli media, Isaac Herzog, whose position is mostly symbolic, tried to convince Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, rivals of Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a coalition with him to prevent him from entering the government. of controversial figures such as Itamar Ben Gvir. The president denied this information.
But during his meeting with Itamar Ben Gvir on Thursday, Isaac Herzog told him that he receives “questions from Israeli citizens and from world leaders … very sensitive questions about human rights.”
“There is a certain image of you and your party that seems, and I say this in all sincerity, worrying in many ways,” the Israeli president told MP Ben Gvir, known for his anti-Palestinian speeches.
After the latest elections in Israel, a politically divided territory, several Western countries, including the United States, called for “tolerance” and respect for “minority groups.”
On the Palestinian side, the results of the Israeli elections were viewed with fatalism. Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said he had “no illusions that the Israeli elections would produce a partner for peace.”
Under the previous governments of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories exploded and normalization agreements were signed with Arab countries considered a “betrayal” by the Palestinians.
with AFP
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