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
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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.



Myanmar Still in Desperate Need After Quake, Thailand Says 

People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP)
People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP)
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Myanmar Still in Desperate Need After Quake, Thailand Says 

People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP)
People clean debris from damaged buildings in the aftermath of an earthquake on March 28, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP)

Quake-stricken Myanmar is still in desperate need of medical assistance, field hospitals and shelters, Thailand's foreign minister said, stressing the importance of a coordinated regional relief effort and long-term support.

The 7.7 magnitude quake on March 28 was one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century, jolting a region that is home to 28 million people, toppling buildings, flattening communities and leaving many without food, water and shelter.

The military government said 3,645 people were killed in the quake, with 5,017 injured and another 148 missing. Nearly 49,000 houses and more than 2,100 government buildings were destroyed.

Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa and Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan met with Myanmar officials on Saturday in the quake-hit capital Naypyitaw and saw the scale of the devastation.

"What Myanmar needs is field hospitals," Maris said in an interview late on Tuesday. "Their existing hospitals can't operate to their full capacity due to damage from the quake," he said.

There was also a need for temporary shelters, mosquito nets, food, water filters and clean water supplies, Maris said, with fears rising about communicable diseases among those made homeless, compounded by the intense summer heat.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs thanked the more than 30 search-and-rescue teams from 13 countries that had been deployed to find survivors, some of which were now departing Myanmar.

"Their expertise was crucial in the immediate aftermath - helping locate survivors and support communities in their darkest hours," OCHA said in a Facebook post.

The Chinese search-and-rescue team left Myanmar on Wednesday having completed its mission, state news agency Xinhua reported.

A fifth batch of emergency aid supplies from China arrived on Wednesday weighing 91 tons, it said, including 266 tents and thousands of mosquito nets and tarpaulin sheets.

BIG BLOW

The disaster was a major blow to a country that has been grappling with a wilting economy and a widening civil war triggered by a 2021 military coup, with an estimated 3.5 million people displaced in Myanmar long before the quake struck, according to the United Nations.

The junta and rebel groups have announced unilateral ceasefires to support the quake relief effort, but have accused each other of violating the agreements.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said the government must ensure in the reconstruction effort that buildings can withstand natural disasters.

"It is necessary to take lessons of dreadful losses in past events," he was quoted as saying in Wednesday's state media. "Officials need to supervise the construction of buildings rigorously."

Maris, Thailand's top diplomat, said plans were also being drawn for medium- and long-term assistance for Myanmar, including reconstruction of damaged areas.

Malaysia wanted to coordinate the regional relief effort in Sagaing, he said, with Thailand handling humanitarian efforts in Mandalay. Both areas were near the quake epicenter.

The aim was to improve capacity on the ground to ensure foreign aid into Myanmar from Southeast Asian countries was optimized, he added.

"We told Myanmar that apart from helping the people, the two teams will help manage coordination efforts coming in," Maris said.