Israel: Netanyahu presents his new government, the most right in the country's history
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presents his new government to the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 29, 2022. © AMIR COHEN / AFP
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4 mins
This Thursday, December 29 marks the investiture of Israel's most right-wing coalition and above all marks the return of Benyamin Netanyahu to power.
In front of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, a crowd gathered to protest against this new government, deemed too right-wing and ultra-nationalist in its program.
The very lively investiture debate continues in the Israeli parliament.
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The Israeli government
presents
this Thursday, December 29 before the Knesset.
The Knesset is expected to vote for confidence in the government despite the anger of several close associates of the Prime Minister who did not receive the coveted posts.
The debate is heated in the Knesset.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had difficulty making his voice heard, says our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Michel Paul
.
Several tenors of the new opposition were expelled from the hemicycle.
Binyamin Netanyahu has set three main goals for his government.
The first is to prevent Iran by all means from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Israeli governing coalition also wants to significantly develop the technological infrastructure in the country.
The other goal underlined by Netanyahu is to continue and expand the Abraham Accords with new normalization agreements with Arab countries so as to settle the conflict in the Middle East, again according to the statements of the Israeli Prime Minister.
“
I am not at ease passing the reins of the country
,” said the outgoing head of government, Yair Lapid.
He described his successor as a weak man in the face of ultra-extremist partners.
Loved ones left behind
Several of Binyamin Netanyahu's most loyal relatives have been sidelined in his new government, angering Likud.
Benyamin Netanyahu first announced the appointment of Yoav Galant as Defense Minister, one of his close associates in Likud, Mr. Netanyahu's right-wing party.
Yoav Galant, 64 and a former commander, has already held several ministerial posts in other governments of Binyamin Netanyahu.
The former Israeli intelligence minister, Eli Cohen, who had played an important role in the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab countries, was meanwhile appointed head of Israeli diplomacy on Thursday, December 29.
As Minister of Justice, it is Yariv Levin, who was the interim president of the Knesset since mid-December 2022 and resigned from his post on Tuesday December 27, who was appointed by Benyamin Netanyahu.
A new Speaker of the Knesset has also been chosen.
To allay the fears of the LGBT community, the prime minister offered the post to former minister Amir Ohana, who himself is openly gay.
And at 8 p.m. tonight, it will be the most right-wing government family photo that has ever existed in Israel.
Protesters outside the Knesset
Outside Parliament, a demonstration to express disappointment and concern.
“
The government of shame
”, cry the demonstrators.
There are a few thousand in front of the Knesset to protest during the new coalition's investiture debate.
A great concern for the future.
Edna, a demonstrator who came with her family, does not hide her dismay: “
I hope it won't get worse and worse.
It's awful.
That's the only word I can say, and that's what's happening in Israel, and I'm surprised that people find that normal, who are on the Likud side, who go like sheep after Binyamin Netanyahu.
Really like sheep
.
»
A rally at the call of nearly 40 Israeli civil society organizations in favor of peace, for freedoms, against religious coercion;
and also activists from LGBT organizations.
For Rimon, it's the end of Israel as he knew it: “
The coalition that forms the government is impossible… It's racist, it's undemocratic.
It was said that Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East, but now they are going to introduce the rules of Hungary or Poland, here in Israel
.
»
And a few hundred meters away, in the precincts of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, a heated debate continues.
It should end in the evening with the traditional family photo of the new government, the most extreme that the country has known since its creation.
(
And with
AFP)
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Israel
Binyamin Netanyahu