Explained: Who are Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies in Israel’s coalition government?

King Bibi is back.

Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday announced he will return as Prime Minister of Israel for a record sixth time and add to his tenure as the nation’s longest-serving leader.

Netanyahu made the announcement in a phone call to President Isaac Herzog moments before a midnight deadline.

His right-wing Likud Party released a brief video clip of the smiling Netanyahu and a recording of the conversation.

“I wanted to announce to you that thanks to the amazing public support we received in the elections, I have succeeded in forming a government that will take care of all the citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

The incoming government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, could leave Netanyahu facing a delicate balancing act both at home and abroad given that they account for 14 of the coalition’s 64 seats in the Knesset.

Let’s take a closer look:

Otzma Yehudit party (Jewish Power)

As per The New York Times, the leaders of the Jewish Power party have a record of supporting violence against Palestinians.

Its leader Itamar Ben-Gvir was once was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization.

Ben-Gvir has been appointed security minister — a new position that will place him in charge of the national police force.

The Israeli Defence forces decided against drafting him into the army at age 18, as per CBS.

He has built a career on confrontations with Palestinians and espouses anti-Arab views that were once largely confined to an extremist fringe.

As per CBS,  Ben-Gvir first gained the spotlight in 1995 when he ripped off the Cadillac logo from Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin’s car. “Just as we got to his car, we will get to him,” Ben-Gvir said. Holding up the logo to a TV camera.

A Jewish far-right nationalists killed Rabin weeks later.

Ben-Gvir has worked as a lawyer defending far-right activists and is popular with young ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Ben-Gvir has also railed against foreign immigration, as per CBS

Ben-Gvir says he wants to end Palestinian autonomy in parts of the occupied West Bank and maintain Israel’s occupation over the Palestinians, now in its 56th year, indefinitely.

Until recently, he hung a photo in his home of a Jewish militant who murdered 29 Palestinian worshippers in a 1994 mosque shooting in the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir has also labelled Arab lawmakers “terrorists” and called for their deportation. The far-right lawmaker also recently brandished a pistol while visiting a tense Palestinian neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu in an interview with NPR defended Ben-Gvir, saying he has “modified a lot of his views since then” and  “with power comes responsibility.”

Religious Zionism

The far-right party and the third largest in Parliament will be given control of the Finance Ministry as part of a rotation.

Its leader Bezalel Smotrich, a West Bank settler leader who believes Israel should annex the occupied territory, is set to receive widespread authority over West Bank settlement construction, in addition to serving as finance minister.

Before the government is sworn in, Netanyahu will try to push through a series of laws needed to expand Ben-Gvir’s authority over the police and to create a new ministerial position granting Smotrich powers in the West Bank that in the past were held by the defence minister.

Smotrich’s plans to expand West Bank settlement construction and legalise dozens of illegally built outposts could also raise tensions with the Palestinians and the international community.

His partners’ animosity toward the Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism have rankled Jewish-American groups.

Party officials favour aggressive settlement construction in the West Bank. They also have made repeated anti-LGBTQ comments.

Noam

As per BBC, the Noam party is a religious-nationalist, anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ outfit.

The Noam party, which has called for a strict interpretation of Jewish religious laws in Israel, is a one-man show – that man being Avi Maoz.

Maoz has claimed that LGBTQ people are ‘a threat to families’, called for cancelling gay pride marches and in 2019 put up a poster with the slogan “Israel chooses to be normal”, as per BBC.

He has also said a woman’s greatest’s contribution is getting married and raising a family.

It is this man that has been put in charge of parts of the country’s national education system.

Maoz, who is openly hostile to the liberal streams of Judaism popular in the US, also has been appointed a deputy minister in charge of “Jewish identity.”

Outgoing defence minister Benny Gantz on Sunday tweeted that Maoz was promoting a “racist identity”.

“We will fight this extremist Netanyahu government with all the tools at hand,” he added.

Collision course with Biden White House?

There is also the possibility that some of these positions taken by Netanyahu’s allies – which could antagonize some liberals in America – could put Israel’s government on a collision course with the Biden administration.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas that Palestinians want for a state, in a 1967 war. US-sponsored negotiations stalled in 2014 but the expansion of settlements has continued despite international Opposition.

Netanyahu had a fraught relationship with the Obama White House when Biden was vice-president.

The White House on Thursday said it was looking forward to working with Israel on “our share histories and values.”

But in a separate comment, state department spokesman Ned Price said the US hopes Israel “will continue to share the values of an open, democratic society, including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly for minority groups.”

He also reiterated support for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians – an idea with little, if any, support among the incoming government.

With inputs from agencies

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