The Israeli Parliament, on Sunday, voted in favour of a new coalition government, ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year rule as the country’s leader. Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu-ally, was sworn in by the Knesset as the 13th Prime Minister (PM) in Israel’s 36th government.
According to the Times of Israel, lawmakers voted 60-59 in favour of the new coalition, which includes right-wing, left-wing, centrist, and Islamist parties. The vote has ended the two-year-old political stalemate in the country. Since 2019, four elections were held, and no party was able to form a stable coalition.
Sunday’s vote was also historic for Israel’s Arab minority, as the Mansour Abbas’ Ra’am party became the first Arab political party to be a part of the ruling coalition in Israel’s history.
As reported by NPR, Bennett will serve as the PM for two years before handing over charge to Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid for the remaining two years in a rotation deal. Despite Lapid’s party having the most significant number of seats (17) in the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid agreed to the sharing agreement with Bennett in a bid to oust Netanyahu from power. Lapid will be Israel’s Alternate PM and Foreign Minister for the next two years.
“The new government will be a government which strives for real, practical solutions to the problems faced by the country and its citizens,” Bennett said in his address to the Knesset. “We will strengthen the bond between the State of Israel and the Jews of the Diaspora. We will care for our brothers and sisters around the world. We will fight against the wave of antisemitism,” he added.
The new PM called the vote a “sensitive moment” in Israel’s history and urged all Israelis “to demonstrate maturity and restraint.” Bennett’s call for calm comes after several lawmakers of the new coalition received death threats over the last week from far-right supporters of Netanyahu.
Lapid, who hailed the diverse coalition that led to the formation of the new government, said that “friendship and trust” were the foundation of the government, and only this would keep it in power. “For our children. For you citizens of Israel. We have come to change,” Lapid tweeted after the vote.
Netanyahu, in his final speech as PM, criticized Bennett and vowed to topple the new government. “I will fight daily against this terrible, dangerous left-wing government to topple it,” Netanyahu said, adding that “With God’s help, it will happen a lot earlier than you think it will.”
The former PM said Bennett does not have the “international standing [and] knowledge” required to deal with the threat posed by Iran. “Among all the differences between the incoming government and us, this is the most important and most fateful difference to the future of Israel,” Netanyahu warned.
A news report in the Times of Israel stated that despite Netanyahu’s criticism of the new coalition government, thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv on Sunday to celebrate the formation of the new government and Netanyahu’s departure. Over the last few months, Israel witnessed protests calling for Netanyahu to resign over corruption charges.
However, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Ministry released a statement on Sunday, saying that it did not expect much from the new Israeli government. “This time, a government without Netanyahu was formed in Israel. However, it is inaccurate to call it a ‘government of change,’ unless one means to say that Netanyahu is no longer there,” the statement read. “As for [the new government’s] policies, we estimate that we will see no difference, or perhaps even worse ones,” it added.
On the same day, the United States (US) President Joe Biden offered his congratulations to Bennett on becoming the new Israeli PM. “President Biden highlighted his decades of steadfast support for the US-Israel relationship and his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said. Biden expressed his “firm intent to deepen cooperation” between the US and Israel and added that he “intends to work closely” with the new government.
Bennett also vowed that the new government will represent all Israelis, including the Arab minority population. Even though the new Bennett-Lapid government has promised to unite the country and bridge divides between communities, it still faces the challenge of healing divisions created in Israeli society during the Netanyahu years, which culminated in last month’s violent riots.