CNN
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Benjamin Netanyahu completed a dramatic return as Israel’s prime minister on Thursday after being sworn in as the leader of what is likely to be the most right-wing government in history.
Netanyahu and his government sworn in his sixth term as prime minister on Thursday, 18 months after he was ousted from power.
He is back with the support of several far-right figures once entrusted around Israeli politics after putting together a coalition just before the deadline last week.
Members of Netanyahu’s Likud party will fill some of the most important cabinet positions, including foreign minister, defense minister and justice minister.
But ahead of November’s elections, which Netanyahu-led ultranationalist and communist blocs won, despite disputes over their positions, a large number of politicians from the extreme right of Israel’s political spectrum were elected. A house was to be appointed to a ministerial post. ultra-religious group.
Itamar Ben Gubir, a militant convicted of supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism, assumed a newly expanded public security role, was renamed Minister of State Security, and served as Israeli police and occupier. oversees police operations in the West Bank.
Bezalel Smotrik, leader of the religious Zionist party, has been appointed Minister of Finance and, among other duties, has the power to appoint the head of the Coordinating Territorial Government Activities (COGAT), Israel’s military force that handles border affairs. was given. Crossings and Permits for Palestinians.
During his campaign, Smotrich proposed a series of sweeping legislative changes that many critics saw as a clear way to undermine the independence of the judiciary. This includes eliminating the ability to prosecute public officials for fraud and treason – charges Netanyahu faces in ongoing corruption trials.
Netanyahu pleaded not guilty, called the trial a “witch hunt” and an “attempted coup”, and called for changes to Israel’s judicial system.
Arie Deli, leader of the ultra-orthodox Sephardi party Shas, serves as Minister of the Interior and Minister of Health.
As the new ministers prepared to take their oaths in the Knesset, the country’s parliament, about 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside to protest Netanyahu’s return to office, according to a Jerusalem police spokesperson. rice field.
The Israeli government’s shift to the right has raised eyebrows at home and abroad. On Wednesday, more than 100 retired Israeli ambassadors and foreign ministry officials issued a signed letter to Netanyahu expressing their concerns about Israel’s incoming government.
Former diplomats, including former ambassadors to France, India and Turkey, said they were “deeply concerned with the serious damage to Israel’s diplomatic relations, its international standing, and its core interests abroad resulting from what appears to be the policy of the incoming government. expressed concern.”
The letter cited “statements by potential government and Knesset officials” as concerns, reports of policy changes in the West Bank, and the “potential for some extreme and discriminatory laws.”
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides congratulated Netanyahu on Thursday, writing on Twitter: Nides is married to Virginia Moseley, his vice president of editorial at CNN US Executive.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council said Netanyahu “repeatedly said he would determine the government’s policy” as he entered into a coalition with far-right parties.
“As we have made clear, we do not support policies that jeopardize the viability of a two-state solution or that conflict with our mutual interests and values,” the spokesperson said.
Officials in the Biden administration have largely avoided mentioning the ultra-right element of the new Israeli government. Secretary of State Antony Brinken said last week that the United States “engages and judges its Israeli partners based on the policies they pursue, not on the people who happen to form the government.”
Netanyahu’s narrow victory in November came in Israel’s fifth election in less than four years, amid a period of protracted political turmoil in which he remained a dominant figure.
In a speech to the Knesset on Thursday, Netanyahu said the first of three major tasks assigned to his government was to “deter Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons”. . A second priority is to develop the country’s infrastructure, including the launch of bullet trains, and a third is to sign more peace deals with Arab countries “to end the Israeli-Arab conflict.” is.
Netanyahu was already Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, serving from 2009 to 2021, and having previously served one term in the late 1990s.
Israel also welcomed its first openly gay speaker in parliament on Thursday.
Among the ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who refused to attend his swearing-in ceremony in the Knesset seven years ago were among those who voted for him on Thursday.
Ahead of the parliamentary vote on the new government, outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid tweeted: Please don’t spoil it, we’ll be back soon. Your takeover file is ready. ”
With additional report by Kareem El Damanhoury
