The twelve year reign of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel has ended with the Israel voting Sunday to install a coalition government led by Naftali Bennett, an Orthodox leader of the New Right religious-nationalist party who was once a Netanyahu ally, the Washington Post reports.
Met by shouts of “shame” and “liar” from allies of Netanyahu in the Knesset, members of parliament took to the podium to endorse the unlikely alliance of right, center and left political parties that put Bennett in power. It got no better when Bennett himself addressed the body.
“We are incapable of sitting together — what is happening to us?” Bennett pleaded over boos and catcalls as his own children flashed him heart symbols from the visitors’ gallery. “I am proud of sitting with people with who have very different opinions. We have decided to take responsibility.”
The unusual make-up of the coalition led to an unusual agreement that Bennett with leave office in two years, at which time Yair Lapid, the leader of the secular-liberal Yesh Atid Party, will take over the top position. In the meantime, Lapid will hold the title of Alternate Prime Minister. Lapid was integral in brokering the coalition of diverse groups who shared one common goal: oust Netanyahu.
“I’ll be back,” Netanyahu told lawmakers, echoing the political efforts of his ally Donald Trump. “Try to ruin our wonderful economy as little as possible so we can fix it as quickly as possible when we return.”