Naftali Bennett is the new prime minister of Israel after a tense day in which the parliament ratified the government of change formed by eight parties amid the shouts and insults of ultra-nationalist deputies. The vote ended with 60 votes in favor and 59 against. The coalition of change, which ranges from the extreme right to the Islamist party, fulfilled a pact that ends Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year term and opens the door to a new era. Bennett, a 49-year-old former businessman and leader of Israel’s settlers, will be the head of a rotating government that in two years will pass into the hands of the centrist Yair Lapid, who until then will be foreign minister. Netanyahu announced that he will go on to lead the opposition with the aim of “overthrowing this bad government as soon as possible.”
The 36th government of the Jewish state comes after the country held four elections in less than two years. Lapid was responsible for unblocking the situation with an anti-Netanyahu pact that has united eight parties in a coalition that will have 27 ministers, nine of them women. Despite the daily reproaches and poor personal relationship, Bennett does not want security cracks and, as analyst Barak David revealed, asked Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Meir Ben Shabbat, to remain in his post during the phase of transition. One of the first things Bennett will do after being sworn in is to receive a detailed report from the intelligence services.
Speeches between screams
Parliament was the center of attention throughout the day. Bennett was the first to address the camera, but he had trouble starting to speak due to the screams of radical Religious Zionist MPs like Itamar Ben Gvir, who was eventually expelled from the room. Likud MPs also interrupted Yamina’s leader shouting “shame” or “liar.” Bennett decided to shorten his speech, started by thanking his predecessor and former mentor, Netanyahu, “for all his achievements in the service of Israel”, introduced himself as a prime minister “for all Israelis” and announced that “Israel will not allow Iran get the atomic weapon.
The conciliatory tone of the one who knew himself to be the winner in the vote of confidence, contrasted with the defiant tone of a hurt Netanyahu who advanced that “if our destiny is to be in the opposition, we will do so with our heads held high, we will bring down this bad government. and we will lead the country our way again (…) We will be back soon! “He called Bennett’s party a ‘false right’ and responded to his words about Iran by saying that the Islamic republic ‘celebrates the new coalition because it perceives that now there is a weaker government.
Party at the gates
While the two great protagonists of the day exchanged speeches and glances, at the gates of Parliament Netanyahu’s detractors organized a farewell party in which the music did not stop playing since the beginning of the parliamentary session. “A new era begins and using Trump’s slogan I ask Bennett to make Israel great again, to end the strong internal division and end the dictatorial ways of a corrupt leader like Netanyahu”, in the words of Ido, a young man who has participated in the anti-Netanyahu mobilizations in recent months.
It was a party with a permanent eye on the mobile to know the progress of the vote. “You have to cross your fingers and hope that no deputy changes the direction of the vote. In my life I would support Bennett in an election, but at least he is a non-corrupt politician who has come to power through democratic means, we are going to give him a chance ”, confessed an excited Karem, who carried a banner in which you could read “today is the end of the beginning.”
A few meters away, separated by a strong police cordon, a dozen of Netanyahu’s followers came to show their support in this day of defeat. National flag in hand, they never tired of calling their new prime minister a “traitor”. At the Wailing Wall of the Holy City, supporters of the ultra-Orthodox parties organized a prayer against the coalition government, which is mostly secular. Bennett inherits a country broken by the last twelve years from Netanyahu.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/2021/06/bennett-dethrons-netanyahu-and-inherits-a-divided-israel/
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