Edited by: Fern Sidman

Israel’s parliament speaker has scheduled a vote for Sunday on a new government that would end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year rule, the longest in the country’s history, according to an Associated Press report filed on Tuesday.

Knesset speaker Yariv Levin, a Netanyahu ally, announced the timing of the vote on Tuesday, a day after acknowledging that a coalition had been formed.

The fragile coalition consists of eight parties spanning Israel’s political spectrum, with only a narrow majority in the 120-member Knesset, as was reported by the AP. It appears to have held together, however, despite a campaign by Netanyahu’s supporters that has seen vociferous protests outside the homes of Knesset members who joined the new “change” coalition.

Netanyahu has accused his erstwhile right-wing allies of betrayal for allying with an array of leftists and a small radical Islamist party, headed by Mansour Abbas.

Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu ally, would serve as prime minister for two years, followed by the far-left Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party.

Israel held four elections in less than two years, the most recent in March.

AP reported that an emergency government formed last year to address the coronavirus pandemic was mired in political infighting and collapsed in December. Netanyahu tried and failed to form a government after the March elections before the mandate was given to Lapid.

The political transition, which could yet be derailed, comes amid heightened tensions following weeks of clashes between violent Palestinian rioters and Israeli police in Jerusalem. Arabs launched a wave of ethnic violence in Israeli cities while Palestinian terrorists set off an 11-day war from Gaza, launching over 4,000 rockets at Israel, killing over 10 people and causing extensive damage.

On Sunday, Netanyahu harshly criticized his political rival, Yemina Party leader Naftali Bennett, calling him a “habitual liar” and said that the government he is forming together with Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid constitutes a threat to Israel’s national security, as was reported by the Jewish News Syndicate web site.

“The left is using Bennett as a tool to crown itself once again, and Bennett is using [the left] as a tool to get himself into the Prime Minister’s Office,” Netanyahu told Channel 20. As a result, he said, the country was entering dangerous territory.

JNS reported that the so-called “change” coalition posed a greater risk to the country than the Oslo process and the 2005 Gaza disengagement, said Netanyahu.

“I warned—you remember this—I warned at Oslo, and I said there would rise terror strongholds in the heart of the country. And we saw the exploding buses. When I resigned from the government during the Gaza disengagement, I warned that the entire country, or at least a large part of it, would turn into a firing range for Hamas rockets. And I was right. I was right about this, too,” he said.

“And now I warn: The danger posed by this forming government is much greater … because there is a threat here, first of all, to our national security,” Netanyahu added, according to the JNS report.

The prospective government would be weak on Iran and would not stand up to the United States, said Netanyahu, and would not take action, other than lip service, to halt the Iranian nuclear program.

“Pyrotechnics in Syria? That doesn’t matter. There, in the place where it matters Iran, and in Washington, in these two places—nothing. The minute this coalition deal is signed, it’s over,” he said, as was reported by JNS.

JNS reported that the Israeli prime minister was responding to remarks made by Bennett earlier in the day, during a press conference following the first meeting of the heads of all the factions in the country’s prospective government.

Bennett, the leader of the Yemina party had criticized what he called the “violent machine” that had been operating against lawmakers involved in the efforts to form a government, as was reported by JNS.

“This is a sponsored, managed operation, aimed at breaking them down, so that they will defect and vote against the new government,” he said.

“I call on Mr. Netanyahu: Let go. Let the country move forward. People are allowed to vote for a government even if you do not lead it,” he added.

Bennett accused Netanyahu of spreading lies about the new government, such as that it had caved in to the demands of the Islamist Ra’am Party with regard to illegal Arab construction.

According to columnist Caroline Glick, Channel 13 News reported on Friday that Ra’am, in its written statements and in television interviews on Arabic-language channels by its MKs, is claiming that Lapid and Bennett had agreed that their “unity” government will end enforcement of building and zoning laws in Arab-Israeli villages and cities.

JNS reported that Bennett also called on Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin of the Likud not to delay the vote on the new government until next week, saying that though it “might be in Netanyahu’s interest” that he do so, it was not in the interest of the country.

Opposition figures and some media pundits have accused Netanyahu’s supporters of engaging in inciting rhetoric. Such claims received a boost when Nadav Argaman, head of the Shin Bet Israel Security Agency, issued a warning on Sunday, largely seen as directed at the right, against rising incitement, especially on social media, according to the JNS report.

Netanyahu, speaking at the Likud faction meeting in the Knesset on Sunday, condemned all incitement, but added, “No one will silence us, because when a massive constituency feels that it has been conned, it has a right and duty to protest using any democratic means at its disposal.”

Also weighing in on the new coalition government are political parties representing the large Orthodox Jewish population that continues to grow due to the high birth rate of families in this community.

On Tuesday, World Israel News reported that leaders of the Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties lashed out at Yemina party head Naftali Bennett and the Change bloc’s political agenda, calling it “evil” and arguing it would eradicate the character of Israel as a Jewish state.

The coalition agreements signed by the parties call for reform in various facets of Israel’s status-quo between religion and state, according to the WIN report. Contentious issues in the new government’s program include civil marriage, exemptions for yeshiva students from military service, egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, commerce and public transportation on Shabbat, as well as standardizing core curriculum subjects in haredi schools, kashrut supervision, conversions to Judaism and the appointment of chief rabbis.

WIN reported that at a joint meeting of the factions in the Knesset Tuesday, Shas party leader Rabbi Aryeh Deri said, “The new government is going to destroy the Jewish identity and character of the state, which allows us to live together.”

Deri added, “It now turns out that due to personal lust and ambition, the government led by Bennett will throw away all the values which were sacred to the people of Israel for thousands of years.”

Referring to Bennett, United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni said, “The name of the evil shall rot,” and insisted haredim would oppose changes, according to the WIN report.

“We won’t allow in any way Judaism or those things connected to the religious and ultra-Orthodox community for the continuation of religious life to be harmed,” Gafni said.

The Tazpit Press Service reported that the details of the coalition agreements publicized in the media Monday evening reveal that Bennett and Gideon Saar, members of the emerging coalition and of right-wing parties, who blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the failure of governance in the Negev where there is a large Bedouin population. They are “not only failing to provide solutions but are exacerbating the problem,” the Regavim Movement warned.

Bennett and Saar have pledged in the coalition agreements to approach Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and demand that he cancel all fines and sanctions on illegal Arab construction, as was reported by TPS. The agreement also calls for the freezing enforcement against illegal construction for almost four years, and the freezing of the existing demolition orders for all illegal structures in the Negev that were built until the beginning of 2021. Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Raam party and a member of the emerging coalition, will be appointed a deputy minister and will receive half a billion shekels for distribution at his discretion, according to the TPS report.

Furthermore, the coalition agreements place both the Bedouin Settlement Authority and the Knesset’s Interior Committee, the key actors on the Negev issue, under the complete control of the left-wing bloc and Raam, as was reported by TPS.

“Aside from approving the whitewashing of thousands of illegal structures on about 11,000 dunams of land to create ‘three new communities,’ the coalition agreements do not stipulate what will happen to the rest of the illegal Bedouin squatters’ camps nine months from now, and neither Bennett’s Yemina Party nor Saar’s New Hope Party will have the ability to influence the outcome in a government kept afloat by Mansour Abbas and the Islamist Raam Party,” said Regavim, which is dedicated to the protection of Israel’s national lands and resources.

“This situation has unparalleled destructive potential, setting a course for total abandonment of the Negev while rewarding rampant illegal Bedouin construction that imperils the healthy development of the Negev, home of the vast majority of the State of Israel’s land reserves,” the organization warned.

Regavim has repeatedly warned that the state has lost its grip in the south and sovereignty in the southern region of Israel has been relinquished to an autonomous entity established by the Bedouins in the Negev. More and more illegal enclaves continue to spring up throughout the territory – and all the while, the Israeli government continues to turn a blind eye, according to the TPS report.

According to data presented to the Knesset in December 2019, in the two years following the implementation of a new law, common construction offenses were reduced by 41%, and serious construction offenses were slashed by 75%. The freezing of these laws would reverse this trend.

On Tuesday, WIN reported that Netanyahu’s Likud party posted a series of tweets in English on Monday evening, accusing prime minister-designate Naftali Bennett and potential alternate prime minister Yair Lapid of proposing “laws from Iran.”

“@Naftalibennett and @yairlapid are turning Israel into a dark dictatorship with personal laws aimed at Prime Minister Netanyahu akin to the dictates of North Korea or Iran,” read the tweet.

“After Bennett deceived his own electorate by transferring votes from right to left only to appoint himself prime minister with 6 mandates, he is now proposing laws that don’t exist in any democracy in the world, with the aim of disqualifying PM Netanyahu from running for Knesset and thus taking down the right-wing leader.

“Bennett crosses every red line in his mad quest for the prime minister’s seat at any cost. PM Netanyahu fights Iran while Bennett and Lapid propose laws from Iran.”

WIN reported that the tweets are likely referring to proposed change bloc legislation, recently leaked to Hebrew language media, which appears to be aimed at barring Netanyahu from serving in the Knesset.

Among the laws that will reportedly be pushed by the change bloc include bills that would prevent a two-term prime minister from running for the Knesset for a four-year “cooling off” period, and would ban prime ministers from serving for more than eight years.

Netanyahu is the only living prime minister to whom such a law would apply, according to the WIN report. The Yemina party strongly denied that they had agreed to any bill that specifically targets Netanyahu.

“There is not and will not be any agreement on the matter of preventing running for the Knesset,” Yemina said in a statement.

“This is a proposal that was made, wasn’t agreed on, and won’t happen. The only thing that was agreed on is capping a prime minister’s tenure at eight years or two terms.”

WIN reported that MK Karin Elharrar (Yesh Atid) told Israel’s Radio 103FM that the change bloc was not planning on introducing policies that specifically bar Netanyahu from politics.

“I must admit I haven’t seen this specific law. It came up in a media report,” she said.

But Elharrar added that she did not believe that Netanyahu, who is currently on trial for fraud and breach of trust, should have been allowed to serve as prime minister while facing criminal charges.

“In my view, a person facing criminal charges cannot serve as prime minister,” she said.

On the local front in Israel, concern is growing about Hamas’ influence in inciting riots amongst Arabs against Israelis, especially in Jerusalem.

AP reported that Israel’s security Cabinet on Tuesday approved the flag day parade in Jerusalem if police approve the route.

Netanyahu’s office announced the agreement with Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Under it, the event can go ahead June 15 with a plan that is “agreed upon by police and organizers,” according to a statement from the premier’s office.

The parade would happen two days after the Knesset holds a confidence vote to approve a new government, according to the AP report. The agreement comes a day after Israeli police blocked the planned procession through parts of Jerusalem’s Old City following warnings that it could reignite tensions that led to the 11-day war with Gaza’s terrorist Hamas rulers last month. AP reported that in a statement, police said the proposal to hold the parade later this week was not approved, but new plans would be considered. Organizers accused the police of caving in to pressure from Hamas.

TPS reported that following the cancellation of the flag parade, Muslims in the city have issued calls for a procession through the Damascus Gate to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in a “victory procession” following the decision of Israel’s police to cancel the parade, citing possible terrorist attacks.

The time of the procession was set for five in the evening at the very same planned time of the canceled Israeli flag parade. TPS reported that flyers were posted on social media under the headline “They will not pass here” and the organizers of the march called to “hunt the (Israeli) settlers and deter them.”

Residents of the eastern part of the city and Israeli Arabs are also called upon to demonstrate against Israel’s intention to renovate the Mughrabi Gate which serves as an entrance to the Temple Mount from the Kotel (Western Wall) area. This comes in the aftermath of the placement of a new sign on at Mughrabi Gate by Jewish organizations which renamed the gate as the ”Hillel Gate.”

Engineers have warned that the makeshift wooden bridge leading to the Mughrabi Gate is dangerous and is at risk of collapsing and therefore must be renovated, according to the TPS report. The Mughrabi Gate is the only gate to the Temple Mount that the Waqf allows non-Muslims to use for the purposes of visiting the Temple Mount complex.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), however, claims that the works are intended to “Judaize the city” and could damage the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the TPS report.

The Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Hussein also issued threats regarding the renovation of the Mughrabi Gate. TPS reported that the PA-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, who was expelled two weeks ago during Friday prayers by Muslim worshippers for failing to address the Israeli campaign in Gaza and Hamas’ actions, is now warning Israel not to engage in renovation work on the bridge while claiming it is designed to allow police forces to move to the complex, and has called upon Muslims to “protect al-Aqsa Mosque.”

In January 2005, the Israeli government decided to rehabilitate the Mughrabi Gate area, and in early 2007, the existing battery was dismantled for archeological excavations, as was reported by TPS. The works took place amid Muslim riots led by Raeh Salah, the leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement.

In October 2011, the Jerusalem Municipality announced that there was an immediate danger to the bridge. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation erected a large wooden bridge as an alternative to a bridge that was closed but was dismantled two weeks later following pressure from Jordan, as was reported by TPS.

Tensions in the city are also rising in light of the Jerusalem Municipality’s orders for the self-demolition of a number of illegal Arab buildings in the Silwan neighborhood near the Old City.

The demolition orders were posted on social media and drew a series of threats, and a protest tent was set up in the neighborhood, attended by foreign delegations, as was reported by TPS.

Meanwhile, the Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Palestinian terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have warned Israel against a return to the kind of clashes that took place last month, saying that “they are monitoring Israel” in light of the news on the canceled flag parade and the situation in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The shared headquarters for terrorist organizations called for “the masses in Jerusalem, the West Bank and inside (Israeli Arabs) to face the enemy and set fire to the ground beneath its feet.”

(Sources: Associated Press, Tazpit Press Service, Jewish News Syndicate, World Israel News)