The following reports are all from the Jerusalem Post:
Naftali Bennett Sworn In As Israel’s Prime Minister, Ends Netanyahu’s Reign
Benjamin Netanyahu’s record-breaking term as prime minister ended on Sunday night when the Knesset voted to approve the new government formed by Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid.
The new government passed at 8:55 with the support of 60 MKs, while 59 opposed it. Ra’am (United Arab List) MK Saeed Alharomi abstained.
The MKs in the new coalition and their family members in the visitors’ gallery erupted in applause when the results were announced.
Bennett and Netanyahu then shook hands, and following his swearing in as prime minister, Bennett sat in Netanyahu’s chair in the Knesset plenum. But when Bennett passed by Netanyahu’s new chair following his swearing in, Netanyahu declined to take his hand again.
The ministers then took turns being sworn in. Bennett was sworn in as Israel’s 13th prime minister and Lapid as the 14th.
Bennett convened the government for its first meeting at the Knesset. The historic photo of Israel’s 36th government will be taken at the President’s Residence on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, Bennett defiantly presented his new government’s ministers and guidelines in an address at the Knesset plenum, while MKs who will be in the opposition heckled him constantly.
At the moment when Bennett started his speech introducing his government, Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich and other MKs shouted, “Shame,” while waving posters of victims of terrorism. They were removed from the plenum.
“I am proud that I can sit in a government with people with very different views,” Bennett told his hecklers in the Knesset plenum, adding that they seemed to have a problem with losing power.
Bennett called on all sides of the political spectrum to display restraint. In recent years, Israel had stopped being managed as a country, he said.
“The loud tone of the screams is the same as the failure to govern during your term in office,” Bennett snapped back at the Likud MKs.
Shas and United Torah Judaism MKs heckled Bennett, calling him a liar and a cheat. But Bennett promised to help the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector, even though its MKs would not be part of his government. He pledged to build a new haredi city for the sector’s growing population.
This is not a day of mourning. There is no disengagement here. There is no harm being caused to anyone. There is a change of government in a democracy. That’s it. And I assure it is a government that will work for the sake of all the people.
We will do all we can so that no one should have to feel afraid. We are here in the name of good and to work. And I say to those who intend to celebrate tonight, don’t dance on the pain of others. We are not enemies; we are one people.
Naftali Bennett
In the address, Bennett said his government would prevent the nuclearization of Iran and would not permit rocket fire on Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip. Bennett thanked US President Joe Biden’s administration for its support during the war in Gaza and pledged to maintain bipartisan support in the US.
Bennett made a point of starting his address by praising outgoing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his hard work over the years for the State of Israel and his wife, Sara, for her dedication. Netanyahu deserved credit for his outreach to Ra’am head Mansour Abbas, he said. The new government would take unprecedented steps to reach out to the Arab sector, he vowed.
Lapid canceled his planned speech and merely said the behavior of MKs in the outgoing government reminded him, his mother and all citizens of Israel why it was so important to replace them.
While Netanyahu spoke, MKs in the coalition being formed were completely silent, making a point of showing him respect. The only MKs who heckled him were from the Joint List, until Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz mentioned the criminal charges against Netanyahu near the end of the address.
A crisis was avoided earlier when Ra’am MK Saeed Alharomi said he would not oppose the new government, following a threat.
Nothing could interfere with the swearing in of the new government on Sunday night, Abbas told reporters at the Knesset, adding that “we will all vote in favor of the government.”
In return for his support of the new coalition, Alharomi demanded that a clause in the coalition agreement regarding illegal construction in the Negev be canceled.
Netanyahu and interior minister Arye Deri pressured Alharomi and offered him assurances, including on the topic of the Kaminitz Law that addresses illegal construction, in an attempt to get him to vote against the government.
Netanyahu would remain in power if the prospective new coalition’s razor-thin majority were to lose the support of even one MK in a vote of confidence in the Knesset. If Alharomi abstains in the confidence vote, Joint List MKs could come to its rescue and vote in favor.
The Likud responded that it would be shameful if the government were formed through the backing of MKs who support terrorists and do not recognize Israel as a Jewish-democratic state.
In a separate vote, the MKs voted to replace Knesset speaker Yariv Levin with Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy.
Levy received the support of 67 MKs.
To see the list of the new cabinet members, read more about it here:
Netanyahu In Last Knesset Speech As PM: We Will Topple ‘Dangerous Gov’t’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he will not be leaving politics despite leaving the Prime Minister’s Office.
He told his supporters he intends to remain opposition leader, head of the Likud and the party’s candidate for prime minister in the next election.
This is a holiday for the press but a difficult day for millions of citizens of Israel. I ask you not to lose your spirits. We will come back.
He told reporters following his address in the Knesset plenum.
In the speech, Netanyahu told his supporters they should keep their heads held high despite losing power.
We will continue to work together. I will lead you in a daily struggle against this dangerous left-wing government to topple it, and with God’s help, it will happen much faster than you think.
In contrast with the constant heckling during the speech of incoming prime minister Naftali Bennett, MKs in the coalition being formed were completely silent when Netanyahu spoke, making a point of showing him respect. The only MKs who heckled were from the Joint List, until Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz mentioned the criminal charges against Netanyahu near the end of the address.
Netanyahu said he was speaking for the millions of voters of Likud and its satellite parties, and he cited the accomplishments of his outgoing government, singling out the Abraham Accords.
Mocking Bennett, Netanyahu said after hearing him talk tough about Iran, he was even more worried since “Bennett always does the opposite of what he says.” The new government is unfit to lead the country for even a single day, he said.
“An Israeli prime minister needs to know how to say no to the president of the United States,” Netanyahu said, praising his own speech to Congress against the Iran deal and lamenting that there will be no one left who could stand up for Israel that way.
Had Bennett told Israelis he would form a government with Lapid, he would not have gotten elected at all, Netanyahu said, calling him “fake Right.”
He listed his successes as prime minister, including the transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the construction of new roads and railways and the improvement to quality of life in the country.
All of this didn’t happen by chance. It happened because we ran a smart and focused security policy that made our enemies pay a price.
The government oversaw “courageous” operations behind enemy lines to keep Israel safe, he said.
The accomplishments turned Israel from a “marginal state” into a leading country, Netanyahu said.
Thousands Gather At Balfour, Rabin Square To Celebrate New Government
Thousands of Israelis gathered in several locations across the country on Sunday evening to celebrate the new government being sworn in and the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year reign as Prime Minister.
Protesters from multiple anti-Netanyahu protest organizations gathered to celebrate in Tel Aviv’s Rabin square on Sunday evening as the Knesset convened to approve the government, while protesters in Jerusalem marched from the Knesset towards the Prime Ministerial residence in Balfour.
Caravans of demonstrators supporting the government gathered at a number of locations across the country.
In Rabin Square, protesters brought a foam cannon to celebrate the new governments, after legal requests to fill the square’s northern pool – which protesters have long planned on jumping into on the night Netanyahu leaves – were denied by the Tel Aviv Municipality.
The “historic change” of a new government was a direct result of anti-Netanyahu protests, said protest organization Crime Minister.
It is the time for unity among the people. For a government that will work for the citizens, will mend the rifts and put an end to the incitement and divide and conquer mentality of the era of Netanyahu.
Likud activists called for the new members of the opposition to boycott the swearing-in of the new government. The possibility of such a boycott will be discussed by the bloc that supports the Likud, a party official told Maariv.
Darkenu, an NGO that works to “strengthen Israel’s democratic and Zionist character,” will gather outside of the Knesset at 2 p.m. to release blue and while balloons in support of the new government.
We have forgotten it, but the swearing in of a new government — any government — is an uplifting, happy, historic moment that gives hope and light for a better future. This time more than ever we are filled with hope and prayer that the unity government that will be formed will bring Israel back to a positive, unifying path that will leave behind the hate speech that has torn the people apart for the past few years.
Darkenu CEO Yaya Fink
Signs in support of the new coalition were hung outside of incoming prime minister Naftali Bennett‘s Ra’anana home, N12 reported Sunday.
Anti-Netanyahu protesters gathered at the Prime Minister’s Residence Saturday night as well as across the country.
Several attendees noted the triumphant tone of the protests in contrast to the more somber ones in the past, such as the “silent vigil” held after the Mount Meron tragedy.
Former defense minister Moshe (Boogie) Ya’alon also said that the new government is the result of anti-Netanyahu protests when he addressed the crowds.
Friends, you did it. You did this when you were attacked as traitors, anarchists and disease spreaders. You did so even when the mainstream media ignored the protests. If the government is replaced tomorrow, I can say that this is the longest hostage rescue operation I have participated in. The protest movement has become the main tool for saving Israeli democracy and the future of the State of Israel, you are the pillar of fire before the camp.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
One corrupt government replaces another. Just look solely at their draconian vaccine rollout for proof of that.
Israel Has Become The Modern Nazi Germany
Israel Launches Bracelets To Monitor Quarantining. Courts Rule Against It
[1] Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. [2] So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: [3] And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. [4] For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: [5] Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.Hosea 3:1-5
I again must remind readers to not get sucked into this trap that so many prophecy and end times ministries pontificate; is this idea that if there is ever this inkling of a “shake-up” in Israel, then the “rapture” will happen any second and the antichrist will confirm the covenant with them, as mentioned in Daniel. I am very much and steadfastly “pre-trib” (the church is caught up before the Lord’s wrath is poured out on this world), but so many of these Laodicean “ministries” use that as an advantage to swindle their viewers.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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