The 37th government of the State of Israel, the sixth led by Benjamin Netanyahu, was officially sworn-in in the Knesset plenum on Thursday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first to take the oath of office. Most of the heads of the opposition parties were present out of respect for the ceremony, but opposition leader Yair Lapid left the plenary hall even before Netanyahu was sworn-in without shaking his hand as is customary.
When National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was sworn-in, Labor MK Gilad Kariv, a Reform rabbi, shouted: "Shame: an idol is in the temple!"
The government will have 30 ministers and 5 deputy ministers - two more ministers than the outgoing government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.
A meeting between outgoing Prime Minister Lapid and Netanyahu is expected to take place after the swearing-in ceremony is completed.
Likud MK Amir Ohana was elected to the position of Speaker of the Knesset prior to the swearing-in ceremony, receiving the support of 63 MKs compared to five who voted against him and one who abstained. Ohana is the first openly gay Speaker of the Knesset in Israel's history.
2 comments:
How many people who are commending Lapid for this condemned Donald Trump for absenting himself from the Biden inauguration?
Interesting to remember the numbers - this government is not as large as it could be. If it was for personal feuds and hatred, the rightist Lieberman (hates Bibi and Chareidi) and centre-right Gantz (hates Bibi) would also participate. This means that 82 seats out of 120 are right wing. That's hardly a small majority. But for liberals, only the votes that you got are the ones that count.
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