Israel’s most right-wing and religious government since independence has taken office under prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, following his Likud party’s return with the largest number of votes in November’s elections. The coalition contains two parties with extreme right-wing and ultra-Orthodox leaders. They have been given ministerial positions set to copper-fasten Israeli control of the West Bank, to extend occupations of Palestinian lands there and to reinforce religious rights over secular Israelis. The new government also aims to curtail the supreme court’s judicial review of its behaviour.
Netanyahu’s government tests to – and beyond – the outermost limits Israel’s ostensible commitment to a two-state resolution of the Palestinian question. That commitment has looked increasingly threadbare after successive extensions of illegal settlements in the West Bank under previous coalitions.
As finance minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party will now have authority over the military units in charge of civilian policy there, while the new national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Jewish Power party will be in charge of border guard paramilitary units. The coalition agreement states that “the Jewish people have the exclusive right on all the land” between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.
Within Israel the coalition’s policies are equally provocative. Commitments to reinforce religious abstentions from armed service, to restrict LGBTQ rights and to pray at Muslim holy places have led President Isaac Herzog to say the incoming government must work for the entire Israeli public. Plans to curtail the supreme court’s role sparked him to say it must respect the state’s institutional system.
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Herzog says Israeli democracy is resilient enough to withstand these challenges. They are real and profound for its future.
International attention on them should not be diverted by Netanyahu’s expected efforts to link up with Gulf states against Iran in pursuit of legitimacy.