Benjamin Netanyahu returns to power in Israel with a government more right-wing than ever

Benjamin Netanyahu swore on thursday the position of Prime Minister of Israelfour years after his departure, after obtaining the confidence of the deputies to his new government, the most right-wing in the history of the country.

A total of 63 of the 120 members The Knesset voted in favor of Netanyahu’s government, made up of his party, the Likud (right), along with two ultra-Orthodox parties and three far-right parties.

Winner of the legislative elections on November 1, Netanyahu presented his ministerial team to the deputies, before the vote of confidence in parliament, where your coalition has the majority of seats.

Netanyahu announced the appointment of former Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen as head of diplomacy. The day before, he had indicated that Yoav Gallant, a former officer considered close to the pro-settlement movement in the occupied West Bank, would get the defense portfolio.

In addition, Minister Amir Ohana was elected the new Knesset speaker, a first for an openly gay deputy in that country.

The government’s mission will be to “frustrate Iran’s efforts to acquire a nuclear arsenal”, “guarantee Israel’s military superiority in the region” and “broaden the circle of peace” with Arab countries, Netanyahu told Parliament.

Security officials have already expressed concern about the leadership of the new government, as have Palestinians and some Western capitals.

“It’s a dream government for Netanyahu’s allies,” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, told AFP.

“And the dream of one side is the nightmare of the other,” he qualified. “This government is expected to take the country on a whole new trajectory,” she added.

Netanyahu, 73 years oldis the leader with the longest tenure as Prime Minister of Israel, with fifteen years divided into two terms (1996-1999 y 2009-2021).

But facing corruption charges, he was ousted from power in 2021 by an eclectic coalition of leftist politicians, centrists and Arab parties led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

After the election, the next prime minister began negotiating with ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties such as Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party and Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power, both with a history of explosive statements against the Palestinians.

In the new government, Smotrich will assume the Ministry of Finance and will be in charge of colonization policy in the West Bank.

Ben Gvir will be Minister of National Security and will control the police that have operated in the West Bank, occupied since 1967.

concessions

Even before taking office, the parliamentary majority passed laws to allow Aryeh Deri, a key ally of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, to serve as a minister despite admitting to tax crimes.

They also decided to expand the powers of the Ministry of National Security, a portfolio that will be assumed by Ben Gvir and will have authority over the police.

Previously, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had warned against “the politicization of law enforcement.”

Israel’s ally, the United States, also warned that it would oppose any expansion of the settlements or any attempt to annex that territory.

Still, Netanyahu’s Likud party indicated in its government program released Wednesday that it will promote settlement in the West Bank.

Some 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in settlements considered illegal under international law.

Climbing

But these concessions can set fire to the always volatile situation between Israelis and Palestinians.

The far-right Ben Gvir has repeatedly visited the Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holy place in Islam, but also the holiest in Judaism under the name of Temple Mount.

Under a historical status quo, non-Muslims can be on the esplanade but not pray.

“If Ben Gvir, as a minister, goes to the Mosque Square it will be a huge red line and it will lead to an explosion,” Basem Naim, a senior official in the Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip, told AFP.

Israel and Hamas fought a war in May 2021. This year, other militant groups in Gaza exchanged rockets and missiles for three days in August with Israeli forces.

And in the West Bank, violence has escalated this year and many fear more trouble.