{"id":161157,"date":"2020-05-18T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=161157"},"modified":"2024-06-12T21:25:18","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:25:18","slug":"netanyahu-sworn-in-as-israeli-pm-vows-west-bank-annexation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/05\/netanyahu-sworn-in-as-israeli-pm-vows-west-bank-annexation\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu Sworn in as Israeli PM, Vows West Bank Annexation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Israel’s new government has been contested in the country\u2019s top court, with opponents arguing that Netanyahu was ineligible to rule. | Photo: EFE<\/p><\/div>\n

17 May 2020 -“It’s time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism,” Netanyahu said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The Israeli Knesset (parliament) swore in today a new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who will alternate leadership with his former rival Benny Gantz, in a deal that could see the annexation of the Palestinian West Bank.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset approved the Netanyahu-Gantz three-year coalition, with 73 votes for and 49 against. One member was absent.<\/p>\n

“It’s time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism,” Netanyahu said in an address to the parliament ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

“These territories are where the Jewish nation was born and grew,” the right-wing PM added.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0plans -included in the new government\u2019s program- for annexing Palestinian land starting July 1,\u00a0were unveiled last month, international reactions<\/a> started to emerge.<\/p>\n

Following a European Union (EU) foreign ministers\u2019 meeting Friday, the EU Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the bloc would use all its diplomatic capacities to block Israel from annexing Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>On the 72nd Nakba Palestine Faces Its Biggest Threat<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also on Friday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II<\/a> warned that if the Jewish state annexes the West Bank, it would lead to a \u201cmassive conflict\u201d with his country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Israel really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,\u201d King Abdullah II said in an interview published by Der Spiegel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to make threats and create an atmosphere of loggerheads, but we are considering all options,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The United States (U.S.), under the administration of President Donal Trump, is for its part,\u00a0unfailingly supporting Israel in its projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Facing the coronavirus outbreak, Netanyahu and Gantz ended last month Israel\u2019s longest political deadlock<\/a> and sealed a power-sharing agreement after three inconclusive elections in less than a year and almost a year and a half without a stable government.<\/p>\n

Under the new deal, Netanyahu will serve 18 months as prime minister before handing over\u00a0to Gantz, a former military chief, who will be the defense minister while waiting for the top post.<\/p>\n

In his address Sunday to the parliament, Gantz announced \u201cthe biggest political crisis in Israel\u2019s history\u201d was over.<\/p>\n

But when he decided to make a deal with Netanyahu and form a coalition with him<\/a>, Gantz saw his Blue and White party dissolve, with his former allies feeling bitter toward a\u00a0leader\u00a0who\u00a0had started his political career on the promise to oust Netanyahu\u00a0but decided to support him instead.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Hating Arabs as a Common Ground: Why Israel’s Coalition Government is Likely to Survive<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gantz\u2019s former running mate Yair Lapid, who now heads the opposition, said the new government was the \u201clargest, most bloated, most wasteful\u201d in Israeli history.<\/p>\n

Israel’s new\u00a0ruling coalition has been contested in the country\u2019s top court<\/a>, with opponents arguing\u00a0that Netanyahu, who faces three criminal corruption cases, was ineligible to govern.<\/p>\n

But the court ruled earlier this month<\/a> that “there was no legal reason to prevent the formation of a government” led by Netanyahu, who denies the corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

It added that by approving the coalition it “was not seeking to diminish the severity of the charges” against Netanyahu, but concluded that those could be handled in his trial, which is due to begin on May 24.<\/p>\n

Under the coalition agreement, Netanyahu\u00a0will\u00a0be able to benefit extra legal protections, meaning he will not have to resign\u00a0despite the charges against him.<\/p>\n

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Go to Original – telesurenglish.net<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

17 May 2020 -“It’s time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism,” Netanyahu said. The Israeli Knesset swore in today a new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who will alternate leadership with his former rival Benny Gantz, in a deal that could see the annexation of the Palestinian West Bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":161158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[120,1829,1030,87,267,1029,487,2395,88,771,1027,427,85,109,287,1572,985,880,292,70,126,1025,886],"class_list":["post-161157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-conflict","tag-coronavirus","tag-fatah","tag-gaza","tag-geopolitics","tag-hamas","tag-human-rights","tag-international-criminal-court-icc","tag-israel","tag-nakba","tag-oslo-accords","tag-palestine","tag-palestine-israel","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-settlers","tag-social-justice","tag-state-terrorism","tag-un","tag-usa","tag-violence","tag-west-bank","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264288,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161157\/revisions\/264288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}