Netanyahu succeeds in forming the most right-wing government in Israel's history
The Likud leader pushed the legal deadline to the limit to announce to President Isaac Herzog that he had fulfilled his mandate and thus succeeded in putting together a coalition government. Legally, after the elections of 1 November, he should have done so on 11 December, but he asked for an extension of fifteen days, the maximum period stipulated by law. The head of state granted him only ten days, which expired at midnight on Thursday 21.
Benjamin Netanyahu can now submit to the Knesset the bills he deems appropriate, even though the individualised list of the members of his government will most likely have to wait until the first days of January.
Consequently, Netanyahu will now be able to fully exercise his position as Prime Minister, putting an end to the interim period of his predecessor, Yair Lapid, who has dealt with day-to-day affairs while his now successor has devoted himself to the high political engineering involved in Israel in putting together the complicated puzzle of a coalition government. This can already be described as the most ultra-conservative in the nearly three-quarters of a century of Israel's history.
In addition to Likud, the party that embodies the traditional right, two ultra-Orthodox religious parties, the Shass (World Organization of Torah-observant Sephardim) and UJT (Unified Torah Judaism), and three extreme right-wing parties will sit at the Cabinet table: Religious Zionism, headed by Bezalel Smotrich; Jewish Force, led by Itamar Ben Gvir; and Noam, whose leader is Avi Maoz.
Until Netanyahu confirms the agreements he has reached with names and surnames, the most controversial promises are to entrust National Security to Itamar Ben Gvir, the administration of the West Bank settlements to Bezalel Smotrich, and an as yet undetermined important portfolio to the leader of Shass, Ariel Déri. The latter can only become a minister if the Knesset passes bills allowing him to do so, putting on hold his possible conviction for tax fraud. Such bills are considered by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to be a manoeuvre incompatible with democracy, to the point of venturing that, should they be passed, Israel may nominally retain the name of democracy, but will have lost the essence of it.
Netanyahu will still have to negotiate the extent of Ben Gvir's powers over the Israeli police, who are currently facing a wave of demonstrations and Palestinian attacks of all kinds, to which the security forces respond unceremoniously, causing dozens of deaths and injuries throughout 2022, as well as hundreds of arrests. In this regard, Gali Baharav-Miara herself has declared that "the politicisation of law enforcement will deal a decisive blow to the fundamental principles of the rule of law, namely equality, freedom from arbitrariness and impartiality".
And if it will be difficult to put together the ministerial jigsaw with the partners, it will not be easy for Netanyahu to choose ministers from within his own party, as there are not enough seats for so many candidates. Some voices within Likud are demanding that important ministries not be left in the hands of the partners, but the partners' pressures and demands have this time gone further than ever, threatening to make the coalition impossible if Netanyahu does not cede portfolios with real power and influence to them.
Israel's political jigsaw puzzle thus remains a never-ending model for study. Meanwhile, the country and the society do not stand still and maintain or increase their leadership in the great geopolitical stakes of the moment.