Amid fears of declining support for American Jews, Netanyahu is close to forming the largest extreme right-wing government in Israel's history

The Israeli Knesset ratified - at dawn today, Tuesday - an amendment to the government's law to appoint deputies convicted of criminal charges to ministerial positions, while a number of American Jewish leaders warned that the racist and extremist moves of the new Israeli government - headed by Benjamin Netanyahu - would hinder American Jewish support for Israel.

A clause in the law was amended, with the aim of appointing Aryeh Deri - the leader of the Shas movement of religious oriental Jews - to the post of minister, despite his conviction of financial criminal violations, in addition to appointing the leader of the Religious Zionist Party, Bezalel Smotrich, as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defense.

Today, Tuesday, the Knesset will resume discussing another law to expand the powers of the Ministry of National Security, which will be assumed by the leader of the far-right "Jewish Power" party, Itamar Ben Gvir.

All these steps aim to enable Benjamin Netanyahu to implement the coalition agreements with his partners, and then present the government to the Knesset for approval next Thursday.

This comes as the Knesset prepares to vote - next Thursday - to grant confidence to the 73-year-old Netanyahu government and his far-right partners.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin informed the members - yesterday, Monday - that the discussion and vote on forming the government will take place in a special session of the Knesset next Thursday morning, subject to the approval of the Knesset Committee.

The Knesset Committee specializes in preparing for parliamentary sessions in which voting takes place.

In order to obtain the confidence of the Knesset, the votes of at least 61 out of 120 members of the Knesset must be mobilized, and the Netanyahu camp has 64 votes, which guarantees him obtaining this confidence.

And next Thursday, after the presentation of the new Israeli government before the Knesset, the term of the previous government, which was rotated by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, will end for 18 months, and which was formed from an alliance of parties with different ideological orientations.

It is noteworthy that Netanyahu - who is preparing to serve as prime minister for the third time - has recorded the longest period at the head of Israeli governments.

The first time between 1996 and 1999, then the second period from 2009 to 2021.

concern in Washington

In a related context, the "Axios" news website stated, quoting informed sources, that a number of American Jewish leaders warned - during a meeting held at the Israeli embassy in Washington on the seventh of December - that the racist and extremist moves of the government The new Israeli leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu may seriously hamper American Jewish support for Israel.

The site quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that the meeting at the embassy reflects the concern of the American Jewish community about the expected policies of the next Israeli government towards the Jews in the diaspora and against democratic values.

The site said - quoting the sources - that the atmosphere was difficult during the meeting, which was attended by a number of representatives of large American Jewish organizations pro-Israel, at the invitation of the head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs office for the Jews in the Diaspora, Shuli Davidovich, who asked to hear their thoughts on the political situation in Israel.

These sources added that almost all those present raised their concerns about the policies of the next Israeli government, especially with regard to the Law of Return, which the majority in Netanyahu's government calls for to be changed in a way that makes it difficult for non-Jews to obtain Israeli citizenship.

The site added that the message of the meeting is that the policies of the new Netanyahu government may make the task of mobilizing American support - which is carried out by those American Jewish organizations - more difficult.

Axios quoted officials in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Davidovich expressed her great concern about what she heard from representatives of the Jewish communities to the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Mike Hotzog, and senior officials in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

economic risks

For his part, the outgoing Israeli Finance Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, warned - today, Tuesday - that the next government will be "very socialist", due to a coalition agreement that includes an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party, and that this may cause the economy to collapse.

Nationalist Liberman has served as finance minister for the past 18 months, but will move into the opposition once Netanyahu is back in power.

Netanyahu - who was formerly an ally of Lieberman, but has now become a political competitor to him - signed a coalition agreement with the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (United Torah Judaism), which Lieberman said was contrary to the free and open economy.

The agreements that are taking shape will eventually lead to the collapse of the Israeli economy, Lieberman told reporters, pointing to the possibility of increasing support for ultra-Orthodox Jews, who generally do not work or do military service, and to cancel reforms that opened Israel up to a variety of agricultural imports.

Lieberman continued, saying that the planned increase in funding for schools that do not teach basic subjects, such as English and mathematics, will undermine the ability in the future to enter the labor market.

Lieberman said that the treasury accounts for the coalition agreement with United Torah Judaism alone would cost 20 billion shekels ($5.7 billion).