Israel: vote of confidence in parliament on government, expected end of Netanyahu era

Israel is preparing, Sunday, June 13, to open a new page in its history with an expected vote of Parliament to endorse a “coalition of change” to end the reign of Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest in the history of the country.

The Knesset meets in special session from 4:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT) to allow centrist and opposition leader Yaïr Lapid and leader of the radical right Naftali Bennett to present their team, which will be the subject of the evening. ‘a vote.

This heterogeneous coalition – bringing together two left parties, two from the center, three from the right and an Arab party – has gathered the necessary majority of 61 deputies out of the 120 in Parliament.

And unless there is a last-minute turnaround, it should obtain the blessing of elected officials, which will thus oust Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been the head of government for 12 years without stopping, from power.

Faced for a year for a corruption trial, Benjamin Netanyahu, 71, was again the target of a new protest on Saturday evening.

In front of his official residence in Jerusalem, demonstrators did not wait for the vote to celebrate the “fall” of “King Bibi”, the nickname of Mr. Netanyahu who has been the face of Israel since his return to power in 2009, after three years as head of government from 1996 to 1999.

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

“It’s good, it’s over, he’s leaving,” said Gali Israel Tal, a 62-year-old protester.

“Peaceful transition”

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

After the planned Knesset vote, a formal handover is due to take place at the prime minister’s office on Monday.

In recent days, Yamina MPs have been the target of an intense campaign to discourage them from voting for the new government.

Either way, Netanyahu’s Likud vowed a “peaceful transfer of power” after more than two years of political crisis marked by four polls that resulted in either failure to form a government or government union that lasted only a few months.

After the last legislative elections in March, the opposition united against Mr. Netanyahu and – extremely rare – succeeded in rallying the Arab Israeli Raam party of moderate Islamist Mansour Abbas.

“The government will work for the whole population – the religious, the secular, the ultra-Orthodox, the Arabs – and this, without exception,” promised Naftali Bennett, ex-close of Mr. Netanyahu.

“The people deserve a responsible, efficient government, which places the good of the country at the head of its priorities”, added Yaïr Lapid, who should be head of diplomacy under Mr. Bennett.

Beyond these statements, the coalition pledged to conduct an investigation into the Mont Méron stampede (45 Orthodox dead), to reduce “crime” in Arab towns, to defend the rights of LGBT people but also to strengthen the Israeli presence in area known as C in the West Bank, that is to say the area over which Israel has full military and civilian control and which represents about 60% of this Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

Challenges

As soon as it takes office, the new government would face pressing challenges, such as the planned march by the Israeli far-right in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied by Israel, on Tuesday.

The Islamist movement Hamas, in power in Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade, has threatened retaliation if the march is held near the Mosques plaza, amid deep tensions over Israeli colonization in Jerusalem. Is.

On May 10, Hamas launched rocket rounds at Israel in “solidarity” with Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli police in Jerusalem, which led to an 11-day war with the Israeli military.

An Egyptian-favored ceasefire ended the conflict, but – and this will be another challenge for the government – talks for a lasting truce have not been successful.

As for the outgoing Prime Minister, he could also have to face, according to the local press, a wave of protest within Likud, elected officials seeking to turn the Netanyahu page internally.

With AFP