Israel on Thursday swore in Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s history.
He took the oath of office moments after Israel’s parliament, or Knesset, passed a vote of confidence in his new government.
The coalition, made up of Jewish ultranationalist and religious parties, has already prompted an unprecedented uproar from Israeli society, including the country’s defence establishment, businesses, LGBTQ community, secular Jews and others.
🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/woeI4sOxBk
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 29, 2022
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The new government has promised to curb the power of the country’s independent judiciary and expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank that will deepen the conflict with the Palestinians.
After more than a year in opposition, Mr Netanyahu secured a comeback in the latest election – the nation’s fifth in less than four years – to extend his record-setting tenure as prime minister.
He remains on trial for charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and was ousted from office last year by parties united in opposition to his rule.
He has always maintained his innocence.
“I hear the constant cries of the opposition about the end of the country and democracy,” said Netanyahu after taking the podium in parliament ahead of the government’s formal swearing-in on Thursday.
His speech was interrupted repeatedly by heckles and jeers from opposition leadership, who at times chanted “weak”.
“Opposition members: to lose in elections is not the end of democracy, this is the essence of democracy,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu heads a government comprising a hardline religious ultranationalist party dominated by West Bank settlers, two ultra-Orthodox parties and his nationalist Likud party.
His allies are pushing for dramatic changes that could alienate large swaths of the Israeli public, raise the risk of conflict with the Palestinians, and put Israel on a collision course with some of its closest supporters, including the US and the Jewish American community.
Outside parliament, several thousand demonstrators waved the Israeli and Pride flags and chanted “we don’t want fascists in the Knesset”.
Another protest was expected in Tel Aviv later in the day.
