Israel's Netanyahu Back with Extreme-right Government

Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, already served as prime minister longer than anyone in Israeli history. Menahem KAHANA / AFP/File
Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, already served as prime minister longer than anyone in Israeli history. Menahem KAHANA / AFP/File
TT
20

Israel's Netanyahu Back with Extreme-right Government

Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, already served as prime minister longer than anyone in Israeli history. Menahem KAHANA / AFP/File
Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, already served as prime minister longer than anyone in Israeli history. Menahem KAHANA / AFP/File

After a stint in opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu will return to power in Israel on Thursday, leading what analysts describe as the most right-wing government in the country's history.

Senior security and law enforcement officials have already voiced concern over its direction, as have Palestinians.

"It becomes for Netanyahu's partners a dream government," Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank, told AFP.

"And one side's dream is the other side's nightmare," he said, adding: "This government is expected to take the country in a completely new trajectory."

Netanyahu, 73, who is fighting corruption allegations in court, already served as prime minister longer than anyone in Israeli history, including a record 12-year tenure from 2009 to 2021 and a three-year period in the late 90s.

He was ousted from power in the spring of 2021 by a motley coalition of leftists, centrists and Arab parties headed by Naftali Bennett and former TV news anchor Yair Lapid.

It didn't take him long to come back.

Netanyahu will present his new government to the Israeli parliament for a ratification vote at 11:00 am (0900 GMT).

Following the election on November 1, Netanyahu entered into negotiations with ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties, among them Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism formation and Itamar Ben Gvir's Jewish Power party.

Both have a history of inflammatory remarks about the Palestinians.

They will now take charge respectively of Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank, and of the Israeli police, which also operate in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

- 'Thirst for power' -
Even before the government was sworn in, the majority parties passed laws that would allow Aryeh Deri, a key ally from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, to serve as a minister despite a previous guilty plea to tax offences.

They also voted to expand powers of the national security minister, a portfolio set to be handed to Ben Gvir who will have authority over the police.

The assignment comes despite Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's warning against the "politicization of law enforcement".

On Monday, in a phone call to Netanyahu, armed forces chief Aviv Kochavi expressed his concerns regarding the creation of a second ministerial post in the defense ministry for Smotrich, who will oversee management of civilian affairs in the West Bank.

Israel's ally the United States has also spoken out.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Washington would oppose settlement expansion as well as any bid to annex the West Bank.

But in a statement of policy priorities released Wednesday, Netanyahu's Likud party said the government will pursue settlement expansion.

About 475,000 Jewish settlers -- among them Smotrich and Ben Gvir -- live there now in settlements considered illegal under international law.

Analysts said Netanyahu offered the extreme-right vast concessions in the hope he might obtain judicial immunity or cancellation of his corruption trial. He is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, allegations he denies.

Denis Charbit, professor of political science at Israel's Open University, told AFP the government "is the addition of Netanyahu's political weakness, linked to his age and his trial, and the fact that you have a new political family of the revolutionary right that we had never seen with this strength in Israel".

Smotrich and Ben Gvir "have a very strong thirst for power" and their priority remains the expansion of West Bank settlements, Charbit said.

- 'Explosion' -
Ben Gvir has repeatedly visited Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam. It is also Judaism's holiest, known as the Temple Mount.

Under a historical status quo, non-Muslims can visit the sanctuary but may not pray there. Palestinians would see a visit by a serving Israeli minister as a provocation.

"If Ben Gvir, as minister, goes to Al-Aqsa it will be a big red line and it will lead to an explosion," Basem Naim, a senior official with the Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip, told AFP.

Israel and Hamas fought a war in May 202l. This year, other Gaza militants and Israel exchanged rocket and missile fire for three days in August.

In the West Bank, violence has surged this year and many are afraid of more unrest.

"I think that if the government acts in an irresponsible way, it could cause a security escalation," outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Tuesday, expressing fear over the "extremist direction" of the incoming administration.



Arrests Made in Türkiye over Calls for Shopping Boycott to Support Istanbul's Imprisoned Mayor

Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
TT
20

Arrests Made in Türkiye over Calls for Shopping Boycott to Support Istanbul's Imprisoned Mayor

Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Turkish police detained 11 people Thursday for supporting a shopping boycott as part of protests against the imprisonment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival, state-run media reported.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for 16 suspects in an investigation into “hatred and discrimination” and “inciting hatred and hostility” among the public, the Anadolu news agency said.

Among the detained was actor Cem Yigit Uzumoglu, who played Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in the Netflix docuseries “Rise of Empires: Ottoman,” the Actors’ Union said.

The suspects were held over social media posts calling on people to not to spend money on Wednesday and for businesses to shut their doors in solidarity during the daylong boycott, The AP news reported.

Large-scale anti-government protests began last month after the arrest of Istanbul's opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges that critics say are politically motivated. The government insists the judiciary is independent and free of political interference.

Istanbul prosecutors on Tuesday launched a criminal investigation into earlier boycott calls by Imamoglu’s party targeting companies it alleges support the government. In particular, the opposition identified media firms that did not air images of protests in which hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to call for Imamoglu’s release and an end to democratic backsliding.

The leader of Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, issued a warning after authorities blocked social media accounts supporting Wednesday's boycott.

“We know that you have closed hundreds of pages to date,” Ozgur Ozel wrote on X. “If you become a tool for anti-democratic practices today, if you implement access ban demands, think carefully about what this nation will do to you!”

While in prison, Imamoglu has been confirmed as the CHP's presidential candidate. The next election is currently scheduled for 2028 but is likely to take place earlier.

According to the independent ANKA News Agency, some 2,000 people have been detained since Imamoglu was arrested on March 19, with 316 jailed pending trial. Most face charges relating to participating in protests.

Lawyers for imprisoned protesters on Wednesday said many had suffered mistreatment. The government has not responded to the allegations but on Thursday the police issued a statement denying claims that women had been sexually assaulted in custody as “vile slanders.”