Israel’s hawkish veteran Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister after a stint in opposition, heading what analysts call the most right-wing government in the country’s history. | AFP
He also vowed to tackle the rising cost of living, and voiced hopes of “expanding the circle of peace” with Arab countries, following US-brokered normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
Following his November 1 election win, Netanyahu entered into talks with ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties, among them Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism formation and Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party.Smotrich will now take charge of Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank, and Ben-Gvir will be the national security minister with powers over the police, which also operates in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
About 475,000 Jewish settlers — among them Smotrich and Ben-Gvir — live there in settlements considered illegal under international law. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir “have a very strong thirst for power,” and their priority remains the expansion of West Bank settlements, said Denis Charbit, professor of political science at Israel’s Open University.
“If Ben-Gvir as minister goes to Al-Aqsa, it will be a big red line and it will lead to an explosion,” said Basem Naim, a senior official with the Islamist movement Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip.
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