Edited by: JV Staff
The new government of Israel sweeps a lot of new and younger faces into the cabinet. While critics don’t expect the coalition and its one-seat Knesset majority to last, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says his government will have staying power, according to a report on World Israel News.
Here’s a who’s who of the key players who will be in the news in the coming days and weeks.
Prime Minister: Naftali Bennett: Leader of the right-wing religious-Zionist Yemina party. The son of American immigrants, the 49-year-old Bennett made his fortune as a software entrepreneur before entering politics in 2006.
His early political career includes a two-year stint as Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff and another two years as director-general of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of the Israeli settlers’ movement. In more recent years, he has held the defense, education and diaspora affairs portfolios, among others.
Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid: Leader of the secular, centrist Yesh Atid party. Prior to entering politics, Lapid was a prominent news anchor and columnist. He is widely credited with being the driving force behind the formation of the Change bloc. Lapid served as finance minister for nearly two years and then as the Knesset’s opposition leader.
Under the terms of the rotation agreement, Lapid and Bennett will switch posts in two years.
He has clashed with the Haredi community over issues such as Sabbath commerce and army deferments for yeshiva students.
Lapid lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Lihi and their two children. Lapid has another son from a previous marriage.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz: Leader of the secular, centrist Blue and White party. Gantz served as IDF chief of staff before entering politics. Gantz allied himself with Lapid for the March 2020 election campaign. After the election resulted in political stalemate, Gantz broke with Lapid to join Benjamin Netanyahu in a national unity government to fight the Covid pandemic.
The unity government included a rotation agreement that would have seen Gantz becoming prime minister in November, 2021. But Gantz’s popularity fell after Netanyahu broke the deal.
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman: Leader of the secular, right-wing Israel Beiteinu party. Liberman was born in Moldova and came to Israel with his parents. Liberman became active in politics, rising to director-general of the Likud party in the ’90s, and then director-general of the prime minister’s office. After a falling out with Netanyahu, Liberman formed the National Union, and then the Israel Beiteinu parties. Secular Russian immigrants make up the bulk of his political base.
In previous governments, Liberman has held a number of cabinet portfolios, most notably defense and foreign affairs.
Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar: Leader of the secular, right-wing New Hope party. Like Bennett and Liberman, Sa’ar rose to Likud’s highest echelons before falling out with Netanyahu and leaving the party. He has held the interior and education portfolios in previous governments.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked: Number two person in Yemina. Shaked was a prominent Likud activist who quit the party to join forces with Naftali Bennett. Shaked previously served as Justice Minister.
Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli: Leader of the secular, left-wing Labor party. A former news anchor and columnist, Michaeli first went into politics in 2012.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz: Leader of the secular, left-wing Meretz party. A former journalist and commentator, Horowitz entered politics in 2009.
Knesset Member Mansour Abbas: Leader of the Islamist Arab Ra’am party. Abbas will hold no cabinet position, but his party’s four seats will make him a pivotal figure. A dentist by training, he first entered the Knesset in 2019 as a member of the United Arab List, a faction of the Joint List. Abbas broke with the Joint List. Ra’am is the first Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition.
Speaker of the Knesset Mickey Levy: Member of Yesh Atid. A former police officer and of Kurdish descent, Levy formerly served as Deputy Minister of Finance.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu: Leader of the Likud party. As head of the largest party not in the governing coalition, Netanyahu will serve as opposition leader. The former prime minister says he will work to topple the Change bloc government.
Netanyahu served as prime minister for 12 years, and also for a three-year stint in the 90s. He is currently standing trial on charges of corruption. Netanyahu maintains he is innocent.
The Jewish News Syndicate reported that following the swearing-in of Israel’s 36th government on Sunday, rabbis aligned with the religious Zionism movement gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City to “pray and cry out, out of fear the government will harm the state’s Jewish character.”
Among those in attendance were Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi David Chai Hacohen, Rabbi Tzvi Kustiner, Rabbi David Dudkevich, Rabbi David Turgeman, Rabbi Chaim Steiner and Rabbi Elizerer Sadan, according to the JNS report.
In a statement, event organizers said they were “praying God does not give them [the new government] the option of carrying out their wicked plan to weaken Judaism in the country and the settlements so that He does not give them the power to harm” kosher certification, conversions, the sanctity of the family, the sanctity of the people of Israel, and Shabbat, “so that he doesn’t let them abandon the Land of Israel to the Arab takeover.”
Shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday evening, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid were sworn in as prime minister and alternate prime minister, respectively, after a special Knesset session approved their new government by a vote of 60:59.
On Tuesday, Israel National News reported that the Likud and the member factions of the “Netanyahu Supporters’ Bloc” intend to file a petition with the Supreme Court against the amendment to the Basic Law: The Government that allows for the establishment of the “change government” of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.
The exact same petition was submitted to the Supreme Court last year by the Yesh Atid and Telem parties against the government headed by Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu. This petition still exists and the Supreme Court is expected to rule on it next month, according to the INN report.
In a discussion held last year on the sections concerning the alternative government in the Basic Law: The Government, the Likud movement claimed that the court has no right to criticize and invalidate basic laws.
INN reported that at the time, Attorney Mordechai Ravillo argued on behalf of the Likud: “The sovereignty of the people must be recognized and the court removed from the political field. The position of the Likud and the Prime Minister is there is no room to overrule the Knesset’s Basic Laws. Even if it’s wrong. Even if it does not seem acceptable to have it in the law book.”
“Everyone is wrong, but who has the authority to repeal a Basic Law without any source of authority in the law? If we accept the petitioners’ arguments, we will lead the country to anarchy. Of course there are extreme cases, but then the public is expected to express its opinion,” he said.
INN also reported that on Monday that former Vice President Mike Pence lauded Netanyahu, celebrating his 15 years as prime minister of Israel.
In a tweet Monday night, INN reported that Pence offered his congratulations to Netanyahu for his “extraordinary tenure”, adding that millions of Americans were “grateful” for his work as premier.
“Congratulations Benjamin Netanyahu on your extraordinary tenure as the most successful Prime Minister in the history of the Jewish state,” Pence tweeted. “Millions of Americans are grateful for your leadership in Israel & your dedication to strengthening the cherished Alliance between our two Nations.”
INN reported that at the same time, Pence welcomed the new Israeli government under Naftali Bennett, writing: “Like every American, I welcome the new Israeli Government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and look forward to working together to make the strong bond between our two great Nations even stronger. America Stands With Israel.”
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Christians United For Israel (CUFI) founder Pastor John Hagee met with Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on Monday night, just before the Netanyahu family departed the residence to return to their private home, as was reported by INN.
Immediately following the meeting, Haley hinted at Netanyahu’s possible return to power, tweeting: “Time with Prime Minister Netanyahu is always invaluable. His contributions to Israeli security and prosperity are historic. We have not heard the last from him.”
Also on Monday, Israel Hayom reported that Netanyahu vowed to topple Israel’s new government “at the first opportunity.”
“We have a very strong opposition—53 MKs, united and steadfast to bring down this dangerous left-wing government, the fraudulent government,” Netanyahu told opposition parties Shas, United Torah Judaism and Religious Zionism during a Knesset meeting, according to a press statement.
The new government was unstable and would collapse quickly, he said, adding, “The only thing that connects them is hatred, exclusion, and dominance. You can’t hold a government up with that.”
“They have so many contrasts, and with that kind of hatred, you can’t hold a government together for long. Those who transferred six Knesset seats in an act of deceit from the right to the left [a reference to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett] can maybe mislead and establish a temporary government, but no more. We will face them in strong and united opposition, and we will topple this government at the first opportunity,” Netanyahu said on Monday.
Israel Hayom reported that the former prime minister noted that he had led the opposition twice before, in 1995 and again in 2005.
“We worked hard, together, and in both instances, we brought great victories. It will happen this time, too, only much faster,” he said.
Netanyahu stressed the importance of the opposition parties maintaining a united front given the precarious nature of the new coalition.
“They have the leeway of a pin, and therefore I ask for steadfast discipline … and I intend to set a personal example,” he said.
“We know and I feel in my fingertips where their weaknesses are. Some of you have already spoken to me about it. We can topple them, and it is possible if we act together in a unified manner and with steadfast discipline,” he added, according to the Israel Hayom report.
“If we focus all our efforts, we can bring them down, and we have good reason to topple them because it’s for the good of the state,” he said.
Israel Hayom reported that Netanyahu concluded his remarks by calling the Bennett government “fraudulent, a motley and erratic government that cannot do anything for our security, for a healthy economy,” adding: “We will save the State of Israel and the people of Israel, God willing.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, INN reported that MK Avi Dichter (Likud) said he intends to run for Likud leadership and the premiership.
In an interview with Reshet Bet, Dichter, a former Shabak (Israel Security Agency) director, said: “I intend to run to lead Likud, and from there to run for prime minister.”
On the subject of the time former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent bringing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett up-to-date and briefing him on the job, Dichter said: “It’s very hard to say that half an hour of working together is enough, but I leave that to Netanyahu and Bennett.”
INN reported that although Netanyahu, who now heads the Knesset’s opposition, has pushed to hold early primaries, several senior Likud members, including MKs Yisrael Katz, Haim Katz, Nir Barkat, David Bitan, and Yuli Edelstein–have opposed him.
According to Kan 11, MK Yisrael Katz said in closed talks: “I intend to insist on this, the primaries will not be brought forward. We will not engage in civil wars now, matters within the Likud will wait.”
Also on Tuesday, AP reported that Israel’s fragile new government has addressed the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians. The report indicated that Bennett’s best hope for maintaining his ruling coalition — which consists of eight parties from across the political spectrum — will be “to manage the Palestinian conflict, the same approach favored by Netanyahu, for most of his 12-year rule. But that method failed to prevent three Gaza wars and countless smaller eruptions.”
Waleed Assaf, a Palestinian official who coordinates protests against Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria told the AP that, “They talk about it being a government of change, but it’s just going to entrench the status quo. Bennett is a copy of Netanyahu, and he might even be more radical.”
AP reported that Bennett said little about the Palestinians in a speech before being sworn in on Sunday. “Violence will be met with a firm response,” he warned, adding that “security calm will lead to economic moves, which will lead to reducing friction and the conflict.”
Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg, a member of the radical left-wing Meretz party, told Israeli television’s Channel 12 that she believes the peace process is important, but that the new government has agreed, “at least at this stage, not to deal with it.”
(Sources: World Israel News, (WIN), Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), Israel National News (INN), AP & Israel Hayom)
