AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in what analysts call the most right-wing government in the country’s history on Thursday, December 29. Protests have exploded across the country. (Pictured: Israeli activists hold flags and signs as they demonstrate in front of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) in Jerusalem on December 29, 2022)
INTERNATIONAL – A coalition of politicians accused of misogyny, racism and homophobia. After several months in opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel this Thursday, December 29.
An oath taken minutes after 63 of the 120 MPs voted in favor of his government, which is made up of his party, the Likud (right), two ultra-Orthodox formations and three from the extreme right. The mention “Prime Minister” appeared on his official Twitter account.
His coalition notably includes Bezalel Smotrich’s “Religious Zionism” and Itamar Ben Gvir’s “Jewish Force”, known for their anti-Palestinian pronouncements and positions in favor of annexing part of the West Bank, as well as “Noam by Avi Maoz, openly anti-LGBTQ.
This new executive, considered by observers to be the most right-wing in Israel’s history thanks to an alliance with several far-right parties, is already a cause for concern. His mission will be to “ensure Israel’s military superiority in the region” while “broadening the circle of peace” with Arab countries, Netanyahu declared notably in parliament.
“I can’t lie to myself”
The announcement of the composition of this new government caused a public outcry. Hundreds of people, including several with rainbow flags, demonstrated in front of the Knesset on Thursday. as you can see in the following tweet.
“You have no right to condemn us to an endless war” #Jerusalem @i24NEWS_FR https://t.co/XJIB01klwu
—Chrystopher Barolin (@ChrysBarolin)
This is “a dream for Netanyahu’s partners, but a nightmare for his opponents,” stresses Yohanan Plesner, director of the Israel Democratic Institute (IDI).
Yael German, until then Israel’s ambassador to France, publicly spoke out against Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government on Thursday and handed in her resignation. In a letter published on Twitter by the former Israeli health minister, she explains her choice.
“Your policies, the statements of your ministers and the legislative intentions go against my conscience, my world view and the principles of the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel,” says Yael German. Under these conditions, I cannot lie to myself and continue to advocate a policy so radically different from anything I believe in, and therefore I submit to you my resignation as Ambassador of Israel to France.”
מכתב ההתפטרות מתפקידי כשגרירת ישראל בצרפת. מכתב ששלחתי לרוה”מ לפני כשעה. https://t.co/O793ezBCKr
— יעל גרמן Yael German (@GermanYael1)
Netanyahu hopes for judicial immunity
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara recently expressed fears of reforms that would limit judges’ powers and a “politicization of the police” that would “deal a serious blow to the most basic principles of the rule of law”. And Army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said he was concerned about the creation of a second ministerial post, that of Smotrich, within Defense itself to oversee civilian administration of the West Bank.
For many analysts, Netanyahu multiplied concessions to his partners in hopes of court immunity or the annulment of his trial on corruption charges. “This government is the complement of Netanyahu’s political weakness given his age and process and the fact that we have a new political family linked to the revolutionary right that we have never seen in Israel of this strength,” he said AFP Denis Charbit, Professor of Political Science at the Open University of Israel.
The 73-year-old Netanyahu, the leader of Likud (right), who has been accused of multiple corruption charges, was ousted from power by a motley coalition in June 2021 before pledging a return to business by aligning himself with ultra-Orthodox parties and the extreme right allies.
” Bust “ Come ?
Smotrich and Ben Gvir, who primarily want to strengthen colonization in the West Bank, the Palestinian area where more than 475,000 Jewish settlers already live, “have a very strong thirst for power and know that what they don’t get from here for three months six months or even two years does not take place,” adds Denis Charbit.
After the last Hamas/Israel war in the Gaza Strip in May 2021 and the most recent violence in the West Bank, the worst since the end of the Second Intifada (2000 to 2005), the fear of a military escalation with the Palestinians is very present.
“There are many red lines: Al-Aqsa, annexation [de la Cisjordanie]the status of Palestinian prisoners (in Israel)… If Ben Gvir goes to Al-Aqsa as a minister, a big red line will be crossed and there will be an explosion,” Basem told AFP of senior Hamas officials.
Ben Gvir has been visiting the Esplanade des Mosques (Temple Mount for Jews), a sacred site at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions in East Jerusalem, for the past few months. Under a historical status quo, non-Muslims can visit there but not pray, but a visit to the site by a sitting Israeli minister would be seen as a provocation among Palestinians. “If the government acts irresponsibly, it could trigger a security crisis,” outgoing Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz said.
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