Reuters. Already dogged by criticism at home and abroad, a new Israeli government is set to be sworn in on Thursday (December 29), the final stroke in Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's political comeback.
The veteran leader, 73 and on trial for corruption charges he denies, has had to calm concerns for the fate of civil liberties, diplomacy and clean governance since his bloc of nationalist and Jewish religious parties secured a parliamentary majority in a Nov. 1 election.
His alliance with the Religious Zionism and Jewish Power parties has stirred unease given their opposition to Palestinian statehood and some members' past agitation against Israel's justice system, Arab minority rights.
Israel's longest serving leader, he was prime minister for three years in 1996-1999 and then from 2009-2021, albeit at times heading a caretaker government ahead of elections.
The new government policy outline, published on Wednesday, said it would strive for peace with all of Israel's neighbours. The first guiding principle listed, however, cited assertions of "exclusive and unassailable" Jewish national rights "throughout the land of Israel", terminology that appeared to include the West Bank and East Jerusalem - among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday bemoaned what he called "the establishment of an Israeli government whose motto is extremism and apartheid".
On wider diplomatic circles, Netanyahu has said he hopes for a breakthrough in forming diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia as he did in 2020 with other Gulf states that share Israel's concerns about Iran.
Hundreds of Israeli left-wing and centrist activists as well as other protesters gathered in front of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, to protest against the inauguration of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government on Thursday (December 29).
