Israeli Lawmakers Meet To Swear in New Netanyahu-led Government

Israel’s new government, the 37th, and the sixth headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, began meeting in special session to swear in the new government ministers. The meeting, which began late Thursday morning, came after Netanyahu presented his coalition agreements to the Knesset 24 hours earlier as required by law. Netanyahu’s speech introducing his new government ministers – ahead of their swearing-in later on Thursday afternoon – was punctuated by raucous shouting from the opposition, including chants of “Weak! Weak!” In his first speech as opposition leader of the new government, Yair Lapid said he was turning over the government “with an unquiet heart” and also announced that his government had started a dialogue with the Saudis toward full normalization and that the “full classified details” of those talks would be turned over to Netanyahu. According to reports, there will not be a traditional transfer of power ceremony between Netanyahu and Prime Minister Yair Lapid following the swearing-in. Similarly, Netanyahu had refused to hold such a ceremony for Naftali Bennett when he took over as prime minister a year and a half ago. Meanwhile, about a thousand protesters gathered outside the Knesset building in Jerusalem to demonstrate against the new government. On Wednesday afternoon, the Likud party lawmakers met together with Netanyahu for the first time since the November 1 election. Prior to the gathering, Netanyahu met individually with each lawmaker to inform them of their new positions in the government. Several long-time party lawmakers and former ministers did not receive ministerial positions, leading to some public and private grumbling.