OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu
announced that he had formed a new Israeli government on Wednesday, returning
to power as the head of the most right-wing coalition in Israel's
history.
اضافة اعلان
Following his November 1 election win,
Netanyahu secured a
mandate to form a government backed by ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and an
extreme-right bloc.
That result left him poised to end Israel's unprecedented
era of political gridlock that forced five elections in less than four years,
and replace the ideologically disparate coalition that ousted him in
2021.
Netanyahu, who is fighting corruption allegations in court,
has already served as premier longer than anyone in Israeli history, including
a 1996 to 1999 stint and a record 12-year tenure from 2009 to 2021.
His mandate to conclude coalition talks had been set to
expire at midnight.
Minutes before the deadline, he informed President Isaac
Herzog by phone that he had "been able to establish a
government," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
The statement confirmed Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party
would govern in partnership with the main ultra-Orthodox parties and members of
the
extreme bloc that ran under the Religious Zionism alliance.
Some political analysts had forecast that Netanyahu, 73,
would be able to announce a new government quickly after the November polls,
given the ideological common ground between Likud and its partners.
But the talks dragged on, with Netanyahu forced to juggle
demands for senior cabinet posts, some of which he was compelled to grant.
Among his most controversial moves was promising an expanded
national security ministry to the head of the Jewish Power party, Itamar Ben
Gvir, who has a long history of using incendiary rhetoric against Arabs.
Unfinished business
It was not immediately clear when the new government will be
sworn in. Netanyahu told Herzog he intended to do so "as soon as
possible".
There could be delays linked to the ongoing Jewish Hanukkah
holiday and because crucial parliamentary business remains unfinished.
Aryeh Deri, leader of the Shas ultra-Orthodox party, is a
key player in the new parliament who has been promised the interior and
health
portfolios.
But according to Attorney General
Gali Baharav-Miara, Deri
cannot serve in the cabinet due to past convictions for tax offences.
Parliament is expected to pass legislation to remove that
obstacle, but has yet to do so even though Netanyahu and his allies control 64
of its 120 seats.
More sensitive are measures that would give Ben Gvir control
over the border police, which assists the army in annexed east Jerusalem and
the occupied West Bank.
Ben Gvir has been widely accused of inflaming tensions and
has repeatedly urged Israeli security personnel to use more force when
countering Palestinian unrest.
On Tuesday a senior US official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said Washington was planning a meeting for early in 2023 between
Israel and Arab nations that recognize it, as it pushes Netanyahu's incoming
right-wing government to show restraint.
Israel's attorney general has issued a stark condemnation of
the prospective government's legislative agenda.
She said some of the measures threatened to turn Israel into
a "democracy in name, but not in essence".
"The politicization of law enforcement will deal a
serious blow to the most fundamental principles of the rule of law, that is to
say equality, the absence of arbitrariness and impartiality,"
Baharav-Miara said.
Netanyahu may still be juggling cabinet demands from within
Likud, by far the largest party in parliament. Israeli newspaper Maariv said
that remained a major challenge.
"There are more demands for important portfolios than
available jobs," the paper said in a commentary Wednesday.
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