Benjamin Netanyahu has left the post of Israel’s prime minister. He was the Prime Minister of Israel for the last 12 years. Netanyahu has to lose his post due to a majority in the Israeli parliament in favor of a new coalition government.
Now right-wing nationalist leader Naftali Bennett has taken over as the new prime minister of Israel
Although Netanyahu did not give up hope until the last minute, it can be gauged from the fact that the opposition coalition got the support of 60 delegates while Netanyahu got 59 representatives.
Netanyahu may not be in government, but he remains the head of the right-wing Likud party and leader of the opposition in the Israeli parliament.
It is noteworthy that Netanyahu has been the longest-serving prime minister of Israel. He was elected Prime Minister of Israel five times. For the first time he was the Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999, after that he continued to lead the government from 2009 to 2021.
But in an unexpected political development, a coalition of eight opposition parties showed him the way out of power. After losing the majority, Netanyahu said in the Israeli parliament that we will return.
Naftali becomes the new prime minister
Right-wing leader of the Yamina party, Naftali Bennett, has been sworn in as the new prime minister of Israel. His own party has only six MPs but the alliance has chosen him as its leader.
Naftali was offered to share the post of prime minister with Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lepid. Ultimately the right-wing Naftali decided to go with the centrist Yer Lepid, even though the two are far apart on an ideological level.
According to the agreement between the two parties, Naftali will be the Prime Minister of Israel until September 2023 and after that the next two years will be in the hands of Yair Lepid.
49-year-old Naftali was once considered a loyalist of Netanyahu. Naftali was Israel’s chief of staff from 2006 to 2008, before splitting from Netanyahu.
After leaving Netanyahu’s Likud party, Naftali moved to the right-wing religious Jewish Home Party. In the 2013 general election, Naftali was elected to the Israeli parliament.
Naftali Bennett (left) and Benjamin Netanyahu (file photo)
By the year 2019, Naftali became a minister in every coalition government. In the year 2019, the new right-wing coalition of Naftali did not win a single seat. Elections were held again after 11 months and Naftali Yamina reached parliament as the head of the party.
Naftali is considered even more ultra-nationalist and right-wing than Netanyahu. The Naftali advocate Israel as a Jewish nation. Along with this, he also describes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights as part of Jewish history.
These areas have been controlled by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war. The Naftali support the settlement of Jews in the West Bank and have been quite aggressive about it.
However, they do not lay any claim on Gaza. Israel withdrew troops from here in 2005. More than 600,000 Jews live in 140 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Almost the entire international community considers these settlements illegal, while Israel denies it.
The determination of settlements between the Palestinians and Israel is the most controversial issue. The Palestinians are demanding the removal of Jews from these settlements and they want an independent country with the West Bank, Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.