Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swore in 37th government on Thursday, promising that his right-religious coalition will deliver political stability after five bumpy back-to-back elections since 2019.
Confidence in the government was confirmed by 63 of the 64 coalition members, constituting a narrow but cohesive majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
With a total of 15 years in two stints in the country’s top seat — he is now beginning his third — Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. This will be his sixth government, and by allying far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties to his right-wing Likud, it will be his and the country’s most hardline to date.
According to coalition agreements signed between Likud and each of its five partner parties, as well as the government’s published guiding principles, the incoming government will prioritize comprehensive judicial reform, including a commitment to pass a High Court override law designed to reduce judicial checks on executive and legislative power, expand settlement and consider West Bank annexation policy, combat the cost of living, and further centralize ultra-Orthodox control over state “Jewish” services.
Speaking to the Knesset plenum before the vote of confidence, Netanyahu presented three top priorities for his new government: stopping Iran’s nuclear program, developing state infrastructure — with an emphasis on connecting the so-called periphery to the center of the country — and restoring internal security and governance.
Many ministries have been split or repackaged. Others are scheduled for ministerial rotation, had pieces cleaved off or appended, or have more than one minister. Only five of the 31 ministers are women, and one, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Galit Distal Atbaryan, has yet to have a clear role delineated. Another, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, was appointed in the hours between when Netanyahu presented his government to the Knesset and the swearing-in.
The Knesset passed a contentious law on Wednesday to cement broad political control over the Israeli Police, according to the Times of Israel Website.
On Tuesday, Knesset passed legislation that now allows anyone convicted of offenses but not given a custodial sentence to serve as a minister. A second law passed allows for two ministers to serve in the same office.
A storm of negative reactions and remarks faced the new Zionist government inside the entity as those who considered themselves as the ‘guards of democracy’.
The former chief of staff Dan Halotz warned Netanyahu against the expected collapse of the occupation entity, claiming that the latter would not fall in this trap.
The ex-defense minister Moshe Yaalon said that the new government would destroy the regime, adding that the Israelis would pay a heavy price for the extremist policies of the new government.
Source: Israeli media
