Netanyahu Awaiting Results of US Midterm Elections Before Forming Govt

Netanyahu waves to the crown during a rally on November 2. (Reuters)
Netanyahu waves to the crown during a rally on November 2. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Awaiting Results of US Midterm Elections Before Forming Govt

Netanyahu waves to the crown during a rally on November 2. (Reuters)
Netanyahu waves to the crown during a rally on November 2. (Reuters)

Israel's Likud party chief Benjamin Netanyahu met with the leaders of his allied right-wing and religious bloc in Jerusalem on Sunday for talks on forming the country’s next government.

However, political sources close to him said the former PM is waiting the results of Tuesday’s US midterm election before deciding on the final lineup of his cabinet.

Netanyahu believes that if the US Republican Party wins, he will have no problem forming a pure right-wing government.

However, if the Democratic Party remains dominant, the incoming PM would need a center party partner, fearing that President Joe Biden will exert pressure on his new government to respect the basic rights of Palestinians and halt settlement policies.

The sources said Netanyahu intends to retain the Ministry of Defense in order to lead future negotiations to expand his government to include Benny Gantz’s party and the United Arab List led by Knesset member Mansour Abbas.

Two of his closest associates are already competing for this portfolio, namely Avi Dichter, a former minister in one of Netanyahu’s governments and former Shin Bet director, and General Yoav Galant, former commander of the Southern Command in the army.

On Sunday, Netanyahu met heads of all the right-wing parties, except for the Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben Gvir, who is on vacation.

The sources said Netanyahu already hinted he would not appoint Ben-Gvir as Defense Minister, upon the latter’s request, but is ready to give his ally the Public Security Ministry.

Netanyahu has pledged that negotiations to form his cabinet would not exceed more than two weeks, however, differences over ministerial positions may last for several weeks.

Last Tuesday, Netanyahu’s bloc won a total of 64 seats out of 120 in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

When official results are published on November 9, President Isaac Herzog will kick off consultations with every party that made it into the Knesset to determine which lawmaker to select as Prime Minister.

He is expected to give Netanyahu the nod.

Netanyahu then has 28 days for negotiations to form a government. If he needs more time, Herzog can grant him a one-time extension of 14 days.

After the incoming PM successfully forms a cabinet, he would present it to parliament for approval.



Iran Executed 975 People in 'Horrifying' 2024 Escalation, Rights Groups Say

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
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Iran Executed 975 People in 'Horrifying' 2024 Escalation, Rights Groups Say

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP

Iran executed at least 975 people last year in a "horrifying escalation" of its use of capital punishment, two human rights groups said on Thursday.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and French group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said the figure was the highest since IHR began recording executions in Iran in 2008.

The figure "reveals a horrifying escalation in the use of the death penalty by the Islamic republic in 2024," they said in a joint report, accusing Iran of using the death penalty as a "central tool of political oppression".

"These executions are part of the Iran's war against its own people to maintain its grip on power," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, AFP reported.

"Five people were executed on average every single day in the last three months of the year as the threat of war between Iran and Israel escalated."

Last year's figure represented a 17 percent increase on the 834 executions recorded in 2023, the report said.

Of the 975 people executed, four people were hanged in public and 31 were women, also the highest figure for the past 17 years.

 

- Executions over protests -

 

Human rights groups, who say that Iran is the world's most prolific executioner after China, accuse the authorities of using the death penalty to sow fear among the public, particularly after nationwide protests broke out in 2022.

Capital punishment remains a key pillar of the sharia-based judicial system established after the 1979 revolution ousted the Western-backed shah.

Crimes punishable by death include murder, rape and drugs offences but also more vaguely worded charges like "corruption on earth" and "rebellion" which activists say are used against dissidents.

In recent years, executions have been carried out by hanging, mostly in prison yards but occasionally in public, though other methods remain on the statute books.

Two of last year's executions were in connection with the nationwide protests that erupted in September 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish woman arrested for an alleged breach of Iran's mandatory dress code.

Mohammad Ghobadlu, 23, was executed in January 2024 on charges of killing a police officer with a car during a protest in October 2022. Human rights groups have charged that his trial was deeply flawed, with judges ignoring evidence presented by the defense that he suffered from bipolar disorder.

Gholamreza Rasaei, 34, was executed in secret in August on charges of killing a Revolutionary Guard during a 2022 protest. Activists said his confession had been obtained by torture.

The rights groups said there was evidence Iran might have carried out more executions last year that they were unable to confirm for their report.

They said there were reports of an additional 39 executions in 2024 that they had been unable to corroborate through second sources.

Already this year, Iran has carried out at least 121 executions, according to IHR's count.