The first Israeli government in twelve years not led by Benjamin Netanyahu resumed office on Monday, with the former prime minister avoiding a handover function with replacement Naftali Bennett.
The right wing leader’s period in office ended on Sunday with parliament supporting, by a razor-margin of 60-59, another administration led by Bennett, a nationalist whose perspectives reflect Netanyahu’s on numerous issues.
In Tel Aviv, thousands came out welcoming the result, after four uncertain decisions in two years.
“I’m here commending the conclusion of an important time period in Israel,” said Erez Biezuner in Rabin Square.
“We need them to succeed and to unite us once more,” he added, as banner waving allies of the new government sang and moved around him.
A confrontational Netanyahu, 71, said he would be back sooner than anticipated.
“However, if we have to go into opposition, we will do as such with our heads held high until we can bring it down,” he told parliament before Bennett was confirmed.
The conventional handover function was not booked at the leader’s office, where Netanyahu was expected to meet Bennett later on Monday to brief him on state matters.
The last time Netanyahu was unseated as Israel’s leader in 1999; he finished his initial term in office with a glass of wine in his grasp and friendly expressions of welcome to then-Labor party leader Ehud Barak, who won him at the elections.
“Acrid, cranky, not masterful – Trump-like until the last second,” Yossi Verter, a political affairs analyst, wrote in the left-inclining Haaretz paper.
Inquired as to why there would be no such scene now, Topaz Luk, a senior associate to Netanyahu, revealed to Armed force Radio: “That is exactly what occurs.”
Netanyahu, he said, was “loaded up with inspiration to bring down this perilous government as fast as could really be expected”. Luk declined to reveal Netanyahu’s rebound system, pointing just to the new administration’s thin edge of support in parliament.
Luk said the incoming government was getting briefings from Netanyahu’s diplomatic and security advisers to guarantee a systematic handover.
In the wake of holding its first meeting late on Sunday, Bennett’s new cabinet was welcomed for a conventional group photo, exhibiting incoming governments, at the official residence of President Reuven Rivlin.
UNSEATING NETANYAHU
With nothing in common other than a craving to unseat Netanyahu, the interwoven alliance of right wing, centrist, left-wing and Arab parties plans to avoid hot-button issues like strategy towards the Palestinians, and to focus instead on homegrown changes.
Palestinians were unaffected by the change in administration, anticipating that Bennett, a defense boss who advocates annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, would seek after a similar conservative plan as Netanyahu.
Under the alliance bargain, Bennett, a 49-year-old Orthodox Jew and high tech millionaire, will be replaced as leader in 2023 by centrist Yair Lapid, 57, a famous former TV host.
U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated Bennett and Lapid, saying he anticipated reinforcing the “close and enduring” connection between the two nations.
Addressing parliament on Sunday, Bennett told Biden that he would emulate Netanyahu’s example in opposing any U.S. return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal repealed by former President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu was Israel’s longest-serving leader, and had served consecutive terms as prime minister since 2009.
He utilized his global stature to oppose calls for Palestinian statehood, depicting it as a threat to Israel’s security. He looked to sidestep the Palestinian issue by fashioning strategic deals with local Arab states, on the basis of shared apprehensions of Iran and its nuclear program.
However, he was a disruptive figure at home and abroad, debilitated by rehashed inability to secure a definitive election victory and by a corruption trial wherein he has denied any bad behavior.
