Benjamin Netanyahu, of the right-wing Likud party was sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel on April 1st, 2009 replacing the outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert. This result effectively ends nine months of political uncertainty in his country caused by close elections in February following the announcement of Mr. Olmert’s plans to step down in the light of recent corruption allegations made against him.

Coalition Government

The majority of the seats in the February election were won by Mr. Olmert’s left-wing Kadima party, led by the now outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, but Netanyahu along with other right-wing parties had won the majority of the seats.

Having been invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres to form a coalition government with other right-wing parties Netanyahu began talks with various other parties including Kadima. Ultimately the talks with Kadima failed with Ms. Livni stating the differences in the parties platforms being to great.

However, Netanyahu was successful in forging a coalition between his Likud party (well-known for its stance on security issues in Israel and its Conservative philosophy in economics) and other right-wing parties including the Jewish Home Party, and Yisrael Beiteinu, which is commonly regarded to be much further to the right than Likud. 

The Israeli Labour Party, which unlike Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu is a left wing party, also joined the coalition government giving Netanyahu a ruling majority of 66 seats in the 120 seat Knesset (Parliament) which appointed Benjamin Netanyahu to formally replace Ehud Olmert as prime minister in a 69 to 45 vote.

The new cabinet with its 28 ministers is the largest in Israeli history and required the governments meeting table be extended simply to encompass all of the coalitions members which will include Labour leader Ehud Barak, who will retain his job as Israeli Defence Minister as well as Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu who stirred controversy with negative comments made in the past about Arabs and Egypt, who will become the new Israeli Foreign Minister.

This will be the second time Benjamin Netanyahu will serve as Prime Minister of Israel, his first term occurring from 1996 to 1999.

Palestine

During the election Likud campaigned on a message which was critical of Kadima’s handling of Palestinian relations and claimed that Palestinians were “not ready for independence” and saying that he would limit Israel’s efforts with Palestine to developing their economy while continuing the occupation of the West Bank. However during coalition talks Netanyahu was accused of softening his stance on Palestine.

He has since promised to seek a peace agreement with the Palestinians stating that he believes a strong economy will be the foundation for establishing peace.

Mr. Netanyahu also seeks to topple Hammas, the controversial political organization which controls the Gaza Strip in the south of Israel along the Egypt border. This comes as tensions between the two governments remain high after a brief military conflict in January that left 13 Israeli’s and 1,417 Palestinians dead.

The Palestinian Authority, which acts as the governing body of the Palestinian peoples in Gaza and the West Bank has issued a statement in which it says Mr. Netanyahu’s government is ”not encouraging,” as he has made no reference to the possibility of a future Palestinian state.

In the past Mr. Netanyahu has affirmed that there would be no need, in his mind, for Palestinians to control a fully separated state, a provocative claim to many on both sides of the debate.

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