Bennett Set To Be Sworn in as New Israeli Prime Minister

Israel on Sunday will swear in a new government, bringing the curtain down on the longest and one of the most tumultuous and controversial prime ministerial terms in its history. Naftali Bennett, who heads a tiny, six-seat party and who just last year was voted out of parliament in one of the four inconclusive elections of the past 24 months, will replace Binyamin Netanyahu as Israel’s leader, heading a nearly impossible coalition of far-right, centrist, far-left and Islamist parties. Bennett will rotate out of office in two years’ time, making way for former Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who in the meantime will serve as foreign minister. Netanyahu, standing trial on serious corruption charges, on Sunday will return to the role of opposition leader, 12 years after catapulting himself to the position of prime minister from the exact same seat. The new unity government, ideologically split on nearly every major issue, will look to finally pass a budget, as Israel still relies today on the one passed in early 2018. Economic reforms likely will be the only area on which the complex coalition’s various members will find some common ground, and no one will be shocked if the shaky construct crumbles sooner rather than later, leading to a fifth election cycle in the coming months.