Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday night that he has formed a new government after his Likud Party and its allies won a majority during elections last month.
Israelis went to the polls for the fifth time in four years on November 1, with Netanyahu’s coalition winning 64 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
“Thanks to the enormous public support we received in the last elections, I was able to establish a government that will work for the benefit of all Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu tweeted minutes before the midnight deadline Wednesday night.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday in March. 8, 2020.
(AP Photo/Oded Balilty, Pool)
Netanyahu, who served as Israeli prime minister for 15 years before being ousted in January 2021 amid a corruption investigation, spent weeks brokering deals with far-right partners to secure the new government.
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Netanyahu’s cabinet members will likely include Itamar Ben-Gvir, who will be named security minister and head the national police force; Bezalel Smotrich, a West Bank settler leader who will serve as finance minister; and Avi Maoz, the head of a small anti-LGBT faction that will control parts of Israel’s education system.
FILE PHOTO: Then-US Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they deliver joint statements during their meeting in Jerusalem on March 9, 2016.
(REUTERS/Debbie Hill)
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The Biden administration, which has sharp differences with Netanyahu on the Iran deal and other issues, has vowed to work closely with the new government.
“We will evaluate the government by the policies it pursues rather than individual personalities. We will hold it to the mutual standards that we have established in our relationship over the past seven decades,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
