Anonymous wrote:
For the sixth time in his long career, Binyamin Netanyahu, aged 73, was sworn in as Israel’s prime minister on December 29th. But the cabinet that joined him on the front bench of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is like no other Israeli government that has preceded it.
Among the new ministers congratulating each other on the government’s inauguration was a former member of an organisation denounced for advocating terrorism who becomes Israel’s new national-security minister; a finance minister who believes that following God’s commandments is the key to economic policy; and a justice minister who plans to eviscerate the power of Israel’s Supreme Court, long regarded as a bastion of liberal-minded independence.
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/12/29/israels-new-government-is-the-most-right-wing-ever
These are some of the people now in charge.
Itamar Ben Gvir, an extremist who has been convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism, will take on the renamed national security minister, overseeing police in Israel plus some police activity in the occupied West Bank.
Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, has been named minister of finance, and has also been given power to appoint the head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), an Israeli military unit which among its duties handles border crossings and permits for Palestinians.
Smotrich had proposed a series of drastic legal reforms, seen by many critics as a clear way to undercut judicial independence. This includes dropping the ability to charge a public servant with fraud and breach of trust – a charge Netanyahu faces in his ongoing corruption trial.
Also new big push for more settlements.
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