By Benjamin Netanyahu’s record-breaking term as Isreali prime minister ended on Sunday night, after 12 years in power.
The country’s parliament, the Knesset, voted to approve a new coalition government formed by Yamina leader, Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid chairman, Yair Lapid.
A rotational agreement and an alliance between left-wing, centrist and right-wing parties was reached.
Bennett, who will be the prime minister until 2023, was sworn in as prime minister after a close 60-59 vote.
“I am proud that I can sit in a government with people with very different views,” he said, calling on all sides of the political spectrum to display restraint.
“We will do all we can so that no one should have to feel afraid. We are here in the name of good and to work. And I say to those who intend to celebrate tonight, don’t dance on the pain of others. We are not enemies; we are one people.”
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu served for five terms. He was first elected as prime minister from 1996 to 1999, then re-elected continuously from 2009 to 2021.
Had the prospective new coalition’s majority were to lose the support of even one MK in a vote of confidence in the Knesset, Netanyahu would have remained in power.
