The State of Israel swore in its 37th government on Thursday in a 63-54 Knesset vote.
Opening the special Knesset session to introduce his coalition, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) addressed the plenum and outlined the primary goals of his new government.
Netanyahu’s address was repeatedly disrupted by catcalls from opposition lawmakers, five of whom were ejected from the plenum after several warnings from incoming Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud). At one point, opposition members continuously chanted that Netanyahu is “weak” – implying that he won’t be capable of controlling his more radical coalition partners.
“This new government is determined to restore governance, peace and personal security to the citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu declared.
“I hear the opposition’s constant laments about ‘the end of the state’ and even ‘the end of democracy.’ Members of the opposition, losing the elections is not the end of democracy – it is the essence of democracy.”
“A democratic regime is tested first of all by the willingness of the losing side to accept the majority’s decision,” Netanyahu continued.
“In an orderly democracy, the rules of the game are respected. We saw it just now in a different context, in the World Cup final, when French fans were disappointed like you, but they accepted the result. They even applauded the Argentina team. I know you won’t applaud, but I do expect you to respect the voters’ decision and cease rebelling against the elected government.”
“In a democracy, you don’t climb the Capitol fences and you don’t climb the Knesset fences,” he added.
As Netanyahu spoke, hundreds of demonstrators had congregated outside the Knesset to protest the incoming government.
Following Netanyahu’s speech, opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) addressed the plenum.
“With great unease we are handing the country over to the elected government,” he said.
“We deliver you a state in excellent condition, with a strong economy, with improved security capabilities and a powerful deterrent force, with our international status at the highest it has ever been. Try not to destroy it. We’ll be back soon.”
For weeks, Lapid has waged a dangerously irresponsible campaign to incite the Israeli public against Netanyahu and his coalition partners, claiming that they pose an existential danger to the nation’s future. With support from the media, the outgoing prime minister had worked to foment an atmosphere of fear and desperation reminiscent of the Oslo years.
Now that the new government has been officially sworn in, it would be wise for Lapid – and the media – to tone down the divisive rhetoric.
The new coalition, for its part, will have to work hard to prove Lapid wrong and to show the people of Israel that there’s actually nothing to fear.
This is precisely what President Yitzḥak “Buji” Herzog communicated to incoming National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) when the two met on Wednesday. Herzog expressed the fears of several groups within Israel and the Jewish Diaspora that are deeply concerned about the new coalition.
Herzog called on Ben-Gvir to “help subside the tempers, to be attentive, and to internalize the criticisms” of those who feel most endangered by the empowerment of Ben-Gvir and his political allies – most notably the country’s LGBTQ+ community and Palestinian population.
Ben-Gvir assured the president that he intends to serve the entire nation and that his party has no intention of excluding or harming any community, saying that he is “attentive to the voices of all parts of the nation.”
But talk is cheap.
In order for this moment of transition to be the advancement in Israel’s national development that it has the potential to be, Ben-Gvir and his allies will need to grasp the pressing need to seek out genuine Jewish solutions to real societal challenges and human needs that are actually more just than the solutions offered by the liberal Western paradigm of their opponents.
To accomplish this, the voters that Ben-Gvir and incoming Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) represent will need to develop a genuine sensitivity to the groups within Israeli society that appear most at risk by their political ascension (Palestinians, LGBTQ+ peoples, African asylum seekers, descendants of Jews who are not themselves Jews according to how we’ve defined the term for thousands of years, etc.) and to find solutions that address the needs of these communities coming from Jewish sources.
Despite the deafening incitement and fear mongering coming from Lapid and countless journalists, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s new coalition has the potential to show the Israeli public, Jewish Diaspora and international community that Israel can become a more deeply Jewish society without excluding or marginalizing anyone.
The realization of this government’s potential to significantly advance Israel’s development will largely depend on the readiness of its ministers, as well as the sectors of society they represent, to start thinking in a new way that transcends the ostensible friction between Jewish particularism and universal values.
