Arrived at the head of the legislative elections in Israel with his far-right allies, Benjamin Netanyahu was officially appointed this Sunday to form a government, a victory for the former Prime Minister who had sworn to find his costume. His government could be the most right-wing in Israel’s history, which immediately raised fears locally and internationally.
Earlier this week, a majority of MPs, 64 out of 120 in the parliament elected on November 1, recommended that President Isaac Herzog give Benjamin Netanyahu the task of putting together a new ministerial team. “I give you the mandate to form a government,” President Herzog said Sunday alongside Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference at the presidential residence in Jerusalem.
28 days to success
“I will be the Prime Minister of all, of those who voted for us and the others. It is my responsibility,” said Benjamin Netanyahu, 73. It was outgoing centrist Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who ousted Benjamin Netanyahu from power in June 2021 by rallying a motley coalition of right, center, left and Arab parties, determined to put an end to the reign of the Prime Minister on most enduring in Israel’s history, in office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021.
Benjamin Netanyahu is also charged with corruption in a series of cases and his trial is underway. Relegated to the rank of leader of the opposition, the one everyone nicknamed “Bibi” had after his defeat in the legislative elections of March 2021 promised to “overthrow the government at the first opportunity”. Benjamin Netanyahu will have 28 days to assemble his ministerial team, with an additional 14 days if necessary. Immediately after the announcement of the results of the November 1 legislative elections, the fifth in Israel in three and a half years, Benjamin Netanyahu began discussions with his allies on the distribution of ministerial portfolios.
Concerns over Netanyahu’s allies
While his right-wing Likud party won 32 Knesset seats, his ultra-Orthodox allies 18 and the “Religious Zionism” alliance 14, a record for the far right, this government could be the most right-wing of Israel’s history. According to Israeli media, Isaac Herzog, whose function is above all symbolic, tried to convince Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, rivals of Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a coalition with him to avoid entering the government controversial figures such as the leader of the religious far right Itamar Ben Gvir. The president denied this information.
But during his interview with Itamar Ben Gvir on Thursday, Isaac Herzog told him he receives “questions from Israeli citizens and 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 honesty, to worry in many ways,” Isaac Herzog told MK Ben Gvir, known for his anti-Palestinian rants. After the last elections in Israel, a politically divided country, several Western countries including the United States called for “tolerance” and respect “minority groups”.