Israel’s Parliament set to End the Era of Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel opens a new page on Sunday with a vote in Parliament to ratify a “coalition of change” formed by ideological rivals united to oust power to Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest serving prime minister in its history.

The Knees meets in a special session starting at 4:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. GMT) so that the centrist and opposition leader Yair Lapid and the head of the radical right Naftali Bennett present their team, which will then be put to a vote between 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM.

This heterogeneous coalition (two parties from the left, two from the center, three from the right and an Arab formation) has achieved the necessary majority of 61 deputies out of 120 in Parliament.

Unless there is a last minute change, it will get the approval of the deputies, who in this way will expel from power to Netanyahu, at the head of the government for 12 years without interruption.

“The morning of change.” Lapid, whose coalition should formally assume the reins of power Monday, tweeted.

The outgoing prime minister for his part published on the same social network a photo with the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who wished him “success” in his struggles.

Netanyahu, 71, has been on trial for a year for alleged corruption. The protests to ask for his resignation had been going on, the last of them on Saturday night.

In front of their official residence in Jerusalem, the protesters did not wait for the vote in Parliament to celebrate the “fall” of “King Bibi”, the nickname of Netanyahu, who was head of government from 1996 to 1999 and without interruption since 2009.

“The only thing Netanyahu wanted was to divide us, one part of society against the other, but tomorrow we will be united, right, left, Jews, Arabs”, declared Ofir Robinsky, a protester.

“Okay, it’s over, it’s going,” said Gali Israel Tal, a 62-year-old protester.

“Peaceful transition”

The new coalition will be led by Naftali Bennett, head of the right-wing party Yamina, for the first two years, and then for Yair Lapid for an equivalent period.

An intense campaign has been carried out in recent days to dissuade Yamina deputies from voting for the new government.

In any case, Netanyahu’s Likud party has committed to a “peaceful transfer of power” after more than two years of political crisis with four elections, the result of which did not allow the formation of a government or led to a national union that lasted just a few months.

After the last legislatures in March, the opposition rallied against Netanyahu and surprised by gaining the support of the Israeli Arab Raam party of the moderate Islamist Mansur Abas.

“The government will work for the entire population, religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox, Arabs, without exception”promised Bennett, once close to the outgoing president.

“The population deserves a responsible, efficient government that puts the good of the country in its priorities.” Added Lapid, who is slated to become Foreign Minister.

The coalition has pledged to carry out an investigation into the Mount Merón stampede (45 Orthodox dead), to reduce “crime” in Arab cities and to defend the rights of LGBT people.

But it is also proposed to strengthen the Israeli presence in area C of the West Bank, that is, the one on which Israel It has full military and civil control and represents about 60% of this Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

Challenges

There will be no shortage of challenges to the new government, such as a planned march on Tuesday by the Israeli extreme right in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied by Israel.

The Islamist movement Hamas, in power in Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade, threatened to retaliate if this march takes place near the Esplanade of the Mosques, in a context of extreme tension over Israeli colonization in Jerusalem.

On May 10, Hamas fired a salvo of rockets at Israel in “solidarity” with Palestinians wounded in clashes with the Israeli police in Jerusalem, leading to an 11-day conflict with the Israeli army.

It ended thanks to a ceasefire promoted by Egypt, but negotiations to reach a sustainable truce failed. Solving it will be another of the executive’s challenges.

The outgoing prime minister is exposed, according to the local press, to a rejection within the Likud, because some of his deputies also want to turn the page to the Netanyahu era in the party.