EXPLAINER
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister ushered in the most religious and hardline government in the country’s history.
Follow him victory in the November 1 electionBenjamin Netanyahu, informally known as “Bibi”, will return as prime minister for his sixth term.
His new far-right government – the government the most religious and tough in the history of Israel – including ultra-Orthodox parties, an ultra-nationalist religious faction and his Likud party.
Mr. Netanyahu, who is also on trial for corruption, has been Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and is currently ushering in Israel’s most right-wing government.
Here’s everything you need to know about Netanyahu:
the background of Netanyahu
- Netanyahu’s mother, Tzila Segal, is an Israeli Jew and his father, Benzion Netanyahu, is a secular Jew from Poland. His father, born Benzion Mileikowsky, changed his name to Benzion Netanyahu after he settled in Palestine. He traces some of his roots to Spain.
- He was born in Jaffa in 1949, before growing up in Jerusalem and attending high school in the United States.
- Netanyahu’s father was a “Revisionist Zionist” who believed that Israel should exist on both sides of the Jordan River, refusing to compromise with neighboring Arab states.
Come to power
- Army Captain: In 1967, Netanyahu joined the Israeli army and quickly became an elite commando who served as a captain during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
- ambassador: In 1982, Netanyahu was appointed deputy head of the delegation at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. In 1984, he was appointed Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.
- Deputy Foreign Minister: In 1988, Netanyahu was appointed deputy foreign minister in the cabinet of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
- Chairman Likud: Becoming chairman of the right-wing Likud party in 1993, Netanyahu orchestrated the party’s return to political power following its defeat in the 1992 elections.
- Netanyahu subsequently lost leadership of Likud to Ariel Sharon and regained it only after Sharon left Likud to found Kadima in 2005.
- Prime minister: He served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and a record 12-year term from 2009 to 2021. This month marks his sixth term as prime minister.
Why does he have to face trial?
- Netanyahu accused of fraud, breach of trust and corruption. He was indicted in 2019 in protracted cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and allegedly sought regulatory favors for media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage. profit.
- He has denied any wrongdoing. He rejected calls to resign from the country’s leadership after being indicted in 2019 and has repeatedly lashed out at law enforcement, the media and the courts for launching a “witch hunt” against him.
- Corruption allegations were one of the main factors that led Israeli politicians to unite from across the political spectrum against him, which ultimately led to his loss of power following the March parliamentary elections. year 2021.
What to expect from his upcoming government?
- Among Netanyahu’s most controversial moves has been an alliance with some members of Israel’s far-right, including figures like Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former Kach supporter, now seen as a “terrorist” group in Israel. Netanyahu gave Ben-Gvir, who is now the head of the Jewish Power party, an extended security suite run.
- Ben-Gvir, along with his fellow far-right leader and incoming minister Bezalel Smotrich, have a long history of using incitement against the Palestinians. Surname oppose the statehood of Palestine and support expanding Israeli control over the occupied West Bank.
- The incoming government has raised concerns about military escalation in the West Bank amid The worst violence in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory for almost 20 years.
- In an interview with Channel 12 television late on Tuesday, outgoing Defense Secretary Benny Gantz expressed “fear” over the incoming government’s “radical direction,” which he said “could cause security stress”.
