The new Israeli government was sworn in in Jerusalem in the afternoon (local time). 63 out of 120 MPs voted in favor of the new government in a vote of confidence. Almost two months after the parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can take over the government. He will head the most right-wing government the country has seen since it was founded in 1948.
The right-wing religious coalition has 64 of 120 seats in parliament. Half of them belong to Netanyahu’s Likud, the other half to the extreme right-wing Religious-Zionist Alliance and two other strictly religious parties. Amir Okhana of Netanyahu’s right-wing conservative Likud party was elected the new speaker of the parliament.
Extreme positions are sometimes represented in the new coalition. For example, the ultra-right Zionist Bezalel Smotrich, who sees no justification for a Palestinian state, thinks the ideal form for the Jewish state would be some kind of theocracy, with the Torah as law. He is now finance minister. Even as a member of parliament, Smotrich had caused a stir because he demanded separate maternity wards for Jews and Arabs when his wife gave birth.
Accompanied by angry heckling from the opposition, Netanyahu presented the most important goals for the next four years in the plenum before the swearing-in. Everything will be done “so that Iran does not destroy us with a nuclear bomb”. His government will also work for rapprochement agreements with other Arab states.
Racist and homophobic statements by coalition members
Meanwhile, a law has been specially amended for the leader of the strictly religious Shas party, Arie Deri, so that he can become interior minister despite a conviction for tax offenses. The coalition wants to push through far-reaching political changes and specifically weaken the judicial system. According to experts, the changes could also lead to the cancellation of the ongoing corruption process against Netanyahu.
In view of racist and homophobic statements by future coalition members, resistance is already stirring from various sections of the population. Protests came from representatives of the IT industry, companies, the Air Force and doctors. Netanyahu’s predecessor, Jair Lapid of the liberal Future Party, said after the legislative changes that the new government had proved “the most corrupt of all time” even before it was sworn in.