TAL AVIV, Israel – December 28 (ONLINE) Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has finalised coalition deals with allied parties, their spokespeople said, in final steps toward his political comeback at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history.
Netanyahu, whose bloc of nationalist and religious parties won a clear election victory last month, is expected to swear his new government in on Thursday after his Likud party finalises two remaining deals.
But even before starting his record sixth term in office, Netanyahu has sought to quell fears at home and abroad his emerging government will endanger minority rights, harm the judiciary and exacerbate the conflict with Palestinians.
The coalition deals with pro-settler Religious Zionism and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism have yet to be formally published, but leaked clauses, recent legislation and statements by future coalition members over the past few weeks have drawn wide criticism.
Prospective coalition members’ pledges to curb Supreme Court powers, anti-gay statements and calls to allow a business to refuse services to people based on religious grounds, have alarmed liberal Israelis as well as Western allies.
Legislation ratified on Tuesday will ultimately enable the pro-settler Religious Zionism party to take up a post of second minister within the Defence Ministry, granting it broad authority over expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu said he would seek peace with Palestinians, perhaps through discreet negotiations. But he refused to endorse a two-state solution, calling instead for “a fresh view” and creative thinking.
During Netanyahu’s previous 12-year stint as prime minister, which ended last year, peace talks ground to a halt.
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