Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked Sunday by President Isaac Herzog with forming Israel's next governing coalition.
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"I intend to be a prime minister for everyone – for those who elected me, and for those who did not elect me. It reflects what I believe in and what guides my actions," Netanyahu said at the event after receiving the official mandate from Herzog. "There are many, many who welcome the election results – but there are also those who make outrageous prophecies and frighten the public. This is not the first time such things have been said. They said it about [first Likud leader Menachem] Begin, they said it about me too; it wasn't true then and it's not true now."
Herzog on Friday completed three days of consultations with representatives of all political parties that entered the 25th Knesset.
On Thursday, the Religious Zionism, United Torah Judaism, Oztma Yehudit, and Noam parties all recommended that Netanyahu be tasked with forming a coalition. The previous day, the other two parties that makeup Netanyahu's right-religious bloc, Shas and his Likud Party, also recommended that he be given the opportunity to form a government.
Video: Yoni Rikner
The factions won a combined 64 seats in the 120-member Knesset in the Nov. 1 national elections.
In accordance with Israel's Basic Law: The Government, Netanyahu will have four weeks, with the possibility of a 14-day extension, to earn the formal support of at least 61 lawmakers to pass a confidence vote in the parliament.
After five elections in rapid succession beginning in April 2019, the Israeli public has given Netanyahu a resounding mandate to helm a stable, right-religious coalition.
Already Israel's longest-serving premier, Netanyahu is primed to return to the Prime Minister's Office for an unprecedented third round of leadership, after holding the post from 1996-1999 and 2009-2021.
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
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