Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday made a dramatic comeback as Israel’s prime minister after being sworn in as the leader of what is likely to be the country’s most right-wing government in history.
Netanyahu and the government he leads were sworn in on Thursday for a sixth term as prime minister, 18 months after he was ousted from power.
He returns with the support of some far-right figures who were once outsiders in Israeli politics after forming a coalition shortly before the end of his term.
Members of Netanyahu’s Likud party will take some of the most important cabinet posts, including the foreign ministry, defense minister and justice minister.
A number of politicians from the far right of Israel’s political spectrum are set to be appointed to ministerial posts despite controversy over their positions during the November primary, which was won by an ultra-nationalist bloc led by Netanyahu.
Itamar Ben Gvir, an extremist who has been convicted of supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism, will take on a major role in public security. He was reappointed minister of national security, police supervisor in Israel, plus responsible for some police activities in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu was already Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having previously held the post from 2009 to 2021 and before that for one term in the late 1990s.
Israel also became the first speaker of parliament belonging to the gay community. Amir Ohana, a former minister of justice and public security, is a member of the Knesset representing Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Several ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who had refused to take the Knesset oath seven years ago were among those who voted for it on Thursday.