International News

Israel’s far-right government sworn in amid surge of resistance

The Washington Post|Published

CENTRAL COMMAND: Benjamin Netanyahu wants to expand Jewish settlements to reinforce Israeli security in a hostile environment.

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inaugurated the most right-wing government in Israel's history on Thursday, launching a turbulent chapter of national division that pits newly influential ultrareligious, ultranationalist politicians against an opposition that warns the country's democracy is in peril.

The new government returns Netanyahu – Israel's longest-serving leader, who is embroiled in a corruption trial – to power for the third time, after a year-and-a-half on the sidelines. His coalition, with control of 64 out of the Knesset's 120 seats, was billed as a return to stability after years of political crisis.

But it is anchored by Religious Zionism, a bloc of once-fringe, far-right parties that have promised to transform the country in their more conservative, religious and ideologically driven image. They have already begun to pursue plans to legislate discrimination against minorities, alter the system of checks and balances, hollow out the Israeli judiciary, exert influence over the army and security forces, and allow harsher treatment of Palestinians in both Israel and the occupied territories.

"This is not the end of democracy, it is the essence of democracy!" Netanyahu said at the inauguration event at the Knesset on Thursday, met by intermittent cheers from his supporters and boos from other members, who screamed "You're a disgrace!" before being escorted out of the hall by security.

Outside the Knesset building, hundreds gathered to demonstrate against the incoming government, hoisting posters with slogans like "crime minister" and "BIBlical disaster," likely a play on Netanyahu's nickname, Bibi.

"Try very hard not to ruin it; we'll be right back," said Yair Lapid, the outgoing prime minister whose government included, for the first time in Israel’s history, an Arab-Islamist party within the ruling coalition.

Netanyahu has refused to hold the traditional transfer-of-power ceremony with Lapid.

The inauguration event followed marathon last-ditch negotiations to distribute ministries after Netanyahu had promised many of the most influential portfolios to the Religious Zionism parties. The result is a government that represents a relatively narrow constituency but is among the most bloated in history and filled with rotation agreements.

Netanyahu tapped Eli Cohen for a one-year term as foreign minister and appointed former Israeli envoy to the United States Ron Dermer, widely seen as Netanyahu's preferred successor, as minister of the newly created Strategic Issues Office. Aryeh Deri, head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, and Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism bloc, are set to rotate as finance minister.

Since clinching victory in the November 1 elections, Netanyahu has repeatedly promised in Hebrew-language statements and in interviews with American news outlets that he will rein in the far-right factions whose policies would imperil Israeli democratic institutions.

One legislative proposal would give the far-right members of the ruling coalition the unprecedented power to appoint judges and to override decisions by the Supreme Court. Many say the government may also make changes by not taking actions: With only four women, down from nine in the outgoing coalition, the government has announced it will not adopt an international agreement that aims to prevent violence against women.

Netanyahu has signed an agreement to change anti-discrimination laws and allow hospitals, hotels and other businesses to deny service to members of the LGBTQ community and potentially on the basis of religious belief.

“As long as there are enough other doctors who can provide a service, it is forbidden to force a doctor to give treatment that contradicts their religious position,” said Orit Struck, a politician from Religious Zionism who will head the newly established National Missions Ministry, which will funnel millions of shekels into the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu has also helped push through legislation in recent days allowing for politicians who were criminally convicted – including his close ally Deri, who was convicted of tax fraud, and Itamar Ben Gvir, the firebrand leader of the Jewish Power Party who was convicted of supporting a terrorist group and of racist incitement.

Ben Gvir is slated to serve as leader of a rebranded and significantly expanded National Security Ministry, through which he will receive legally mandated control over the Israeli police, including forces that operate in the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu's partners could pass legislation that would derail, or potentially cancel, his corruption trial.

In response, protests have been mounting across the country. Sheba Medical Center, along with several other Israeli hospitals, said in an Instagram video Monday: "We treat everyone." Leaders of the judicial system and owners of high-tech companies and other businesses have issued a flurry of letters saying that in case the law is changed to allow discrimination, they would no longer work with government-associated bodies.

"We believe and hope that our clients and also the companies and service providers we work with, there are certain basic values, and through collaborations and the unifying of forces we will be able to preserve an egalitarian, tolerant and respecting society in the state of Israel," read a letter from 21 prominent Israeli law firms issued on Tuesday.

The Biden administration has expressed concern with the new government and has been scrambling for workarounds to dealing directly with some of its members, according to Israeli media. In a rare meeting on Wednesday, President Isaac Herzog told Ben Gvir that it was his responsibility to calm the "stormy winds" that his government has caused among millions in Israel and in the international Jewish community.

But many worry that Religious Zionism, which is led by staunch ideologues and openly seeks to change the status quo, will be beyond managing.

In recent weeks, the Israeli news site Ynet published two "black lists" that were drafted in 2019 by Avi Maoz's anti-LGBTQ and anti-Arab party, which is a member of Religious Zionism. One list, which was updated this year on the party's internal server, the report said, includes the names, sexual orientations, photos and other identifying details of feminist researchers, prominent LGBTQ journalists and liberal figures involved in public education.

A second list names dozens of justice system officials, academics and even interns who were involved in a civil society workshop that Maoz describes as representative of a "deep state, shadow government." He says the group's lessons on the integration of Arab citizens and on ways to fight racism are part of a "radical left" plot.

Netanyahu did not issue a condemnation.

"This is a particularly slippery and dangerous slope," Adir Yanko, a gay Israeli journalist listed by the party, wrote in Ynet. "What begins in the gay community could spread to other groups that currently feel very safe. … Turning a blind eye is not an option."

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