Israel's most right-wing government formed under Benjamin Netanyahu

by Staff Writer 22-12-2022 | 3:57 PM

(BBC) - A new government seen as the most right-wing in Israel's history has been agreed, sealing Benjamin Netanyahu's return to power.

Mr Netanyahu, who won elections in November, is set to serve an historic sixth term as prime minster.

His coalition contains far-right parties, including one whose leader was once convicted of anti-Arab racism.

Palestinians fear the new government will also strengthen Israel's hold on the occupied West Bank.

"I have managed [to form a government]," Mr Netanyahu tweeted, just minutes before a midnight local time (22:00 GMT) deadline set by the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog.

Mr Netanyahu's coalition partners reject the idea of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict - the internationally backed formula for peace which envisages an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank alongside Israel, with Jerusalem as their shared capital.

The leader of the Religious Zionism party, which in alliance with two other far-right parties won the third largest number of seats in the knesset (parliament), wants to see Israel annex the West Bank and has been given wide powers over its activities there.

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war. More than 600,000 Jewish settlers live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The settlements they live in are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Israel pulled its settlers and troops out of the Gaza Strip in 2005.