Former Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, notified this Wednesday (21) the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, that he managed to form a coalition to govern the country, paving his return to power about a year and a half after have left office.
Bibi, as the politician is known, made the announcement on his Twitter account just minutes before the deadline set by Herzog for an agreement to be reached. If the former prime minister had failed in the task, other parties would have had the opportunity to negotiate the formation of a government.
The procedures for the new government to take office had to be temporarily postponed because the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, does not meet this week because of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday known as the festival of lights.
With the resumption of parliamentary work next Monday (26), Netanyahu and his allies hope that the new government will take office on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, reported the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The Likud, the right-wing party led by Netanyahu, was the big winner of the November 1 elections, and had announced that it intended to form a coalition with the ultranationalist bloc Otzmá Yehudit (Jewish Strength).
Among other positions, the alliance led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir defends the expulsion of Arab citizens who do not swear allegiance to Israel – which generates fear among Palestinians amid a context of growing tension in the West Bank.
The coalition is expected to control 64 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, a relatively comfortable majority by Israeli standards. The last governments had narrower majorities, so the defections of one or two MPs resulted in the loss of control of the Parliament – which is why the country has had five general elections in the last three years.
Bibi was Prime Minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021, being the longest-serving politician in office. His new government is expected to be the most right-wing administration in the country’s history.
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