Incoming Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Wednesday that he has succeeded in forming a government, just minutes before the midnight deadline.
The tweet included a two-word Hebrew phrase that basically translates to “I have a government in hand,” according to The Times of Israel.
Moments before the tweet, Netanyahu informed Israeli president Isaac Herzog of the news.
The incoming Israeli PM told Herzog that the new government, which will be comprised of the Likud, Religious Zionists Party (RZP), Shas, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), Otzma Yehudit and Noam factions, will work for “all Israeli citizens,” The Jerusalem Post reported, citing a statement published by the Likud.
Knesset speaker Likud MK Yariv Levin was expected to make an official announcement to the Knesset plenum when it next convenes on Monday, and to then set a session within a week, in which the government – if formed – will present its guidelines, makeup and distribution of roles. This session will conclude with a vote over the government’s formation, and if it passes – the government officially takes power, the JPost reported.
The latest date for Netanyahu to take over was supposed to be Monday, January 2, but the incoming coalition will try to swear in the government by the end of next week, according to multiple Israeli reports.
Allies’ Conditions
Despite Netanyahu’s announcement, the coalition agreements with UTJ’s Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael were not finalized as of Thursday midnight, adding to Israeli reports claiming the agreement with Shas was also not completed on Wednesday, JPost reported.
Israeli media added that Netanyahu’s partners have secured far-reaching concessions on both policy and appointments that “may change security service command structures, impact the lives of Palestinians, retroactively legalize and expand illegal settlements, introduce far-right influence in secular education, and expand religious influence over state and social institutions.”
Dangerous, Controversial Bills
In addition to portfolios and shifts in funding and oversight, three fast-tracked and controversial legislative changes have been demanded by Netanyahu’s allies as conditions for swearing in the announced government.
The first bill is demanded by RZP Chief Bezalel Smotrich, who is pushing to change a law undergirding Israeli government to enable his appointment as an independent minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of West Bank settlement and Palestinian construction.
This move may lead to legalization of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and would transfer power from the civil administration to relevant ministries with regard to settler affairs, Israeli media reported.
The move is also looked at as a form of “de facto annexation” because it gives the occupation government direct oversight with respect to Palestinian territory, referred to by Israeli occupation as a “territory beyond the country’s sovereign borders.”
The second bill is pushed by Shas’s Aryeh Deri, who is also demanding a change to the same Basic Law to clear his way to becoming a cabinet minister, despite his recent suspended sentence for tax fraud — his second conviction, received in a lenient plea deal after convincing the judge he intended to step down from politics.
Furthermore, the third bill is an amendment of the Police Law to allow incoming “national security” minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir to gain wider control over many aspects of policing.
Addressing the deal, Ben Gvir said that “we did everything to establish a fully right-wing government that would return governance and pride to the people of Israel and support the soldiers and police in their important struggle.”
Source: Israeli media (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
