The Israeli Parliament's (the Knesset) most recent session sealed the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year-long dominance of the Israeli political scene. After many years, his rule is now over.
With intermittent heckling, continuous chaos and recurrent chants of "liar" and "shame" doing the rounds, this transition was anything but smooth.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing alliance Yamina and former defense minister, was sworn in as the 13th prime minister of Israel, heading a coalition of eight parties with different ideologies ranging from the extreme right to the center and the left and, strangely, for the first time a party representing the Palestinians as well.
Netanyahu's opponents always identified the reasons for his continued dominance of Israeli politics as long-divisive rhetoric, underhanded political tactics, frequently resorting to existential threats and not shying away from bartering the nation’s long-term interest for his immediate political survival. His last speech in Knesset before the crucial confidence vote exhibited all of this.
By resorting to recall "Auschwitz" and bragging about his refusal to accept even U.S. President Joe Biden's request related to talks with Iran, Netanyahu remained undeterred and continued making last-ditch efforts to retain his power.
The newly sworn-in Bennett, a right-wing provocateur and a former leader of the settler movement, exhibited a more conciliatory tone in his inaugural speech. He underlined his coalitions’ immediate priority of "healing a divided nation that was descending into a maelstrom of hatred and infighting" and "working for a united Israel."
Under the rotational agreement which formalized this coalition, Bennett will be replaced after two years by Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party as the prime minister.
Netanyahu’s legacy
A hardliner to the core, Netanyahu made his mark on the political scene when he was appointed the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. He vehemently denounced the Oslo Peace Accord and was a trenchant critic of former Prime Minister Yatzhik Rabin.
When Rabin was killed by a hardline Jew, critics cited Netanyahu's hyperbolic speeches as a possible source of extremist inspiration. During his second political foray as the finance and foreign minister in Ariel Sharon's ministry after his premiership from 1996 to 1999, he even parted ways with Sharon over a disagreement regarding the Gaza disengagement plan (2005).
Since 2009, when he successfully forged a coalition to lead the government, Netanyahu has been at the helm of affairs despite the indecisive 2019 election, wherein no party was able to conclusively form the government although three more elections have been held since then.
Among the many achievements that Netanyahu’s supporters proudly proclaim are: