Netanyahu set to head Israel government
HE HAS 28 DAYS TO FORM COALITION FOLLOWING PRESIDENT’S APPROVAL
BWe must determinedly take action against Iran’s belligerence and, above all, foil its effort to arm itself with nuclear weaponry, which has direct designs against our existence.”
Benjamin Netanyahu | Israel’s PM-designate
enjamin Netanyahu yesterday received an official mandate to form a new government and pledged that he would seek national consensus after an election in which Jewish far-rightists surged.
Tasking Netanyahu with building the next coalition, President Isaac Herzog noted that Israel’s longest-serving premier had received enough recommendations from likeminded parties to secure 64 of parliament’s 120 seats.
Netanyahu has 28 days to clinch a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension. But he looks likely to finalise the talks this week, having launched them semi-formally right after the November 1 election.
“I intend to work to broaden the zone of consensus among us,” Netanyahu said in televised remarks at Herzog’s residence, adding that he would represent all Israelis “without exception”.
Herzog noted Netanyahu’s trial but said it posed no legal obstacle to him serving as prime minister again.
Cost of living and Iran
Reiterating two of his longheld convictions, he pledged further free-market reforms to lower costs of living and said: “We must determinedly take action against Iran’s belligerence and, above all, foil its effort to arm itself with nuclear weaponry, which has direct designs against our existence”.
Having forged normalisation with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in 2020, Netanyahu said he would now work on “further peace deals, peace through strength, peace in exchange for peace, with additional Arab countries.
Right-wing regime
The incoming government looks to be the most right-wing in Israel’s history, encompassing the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party whose leaders oppose Palestinian statehood.
One of them, Itamar BenGvir, was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and support for terrorism.
Dismissing what he called “fear-mongering” about the health of Israel’s democracy, Netanyahu said the country would continue to be a “beacon” for the region.—