Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday appointed outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new government. The day before, the president held consultations with the various parties to make a choice deemed “unethical”.
Benjamin Netanyahu has been appointed for the fourth time in two years to form an executive in the country plagued by political crises and which has seen no less than 4 early parliamentary elections in the space of two years.
The indestructible “Bibi” will tackle the task of forming a new government certainly far from its old alliance with the Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, from the Blue White party, with whom he was to share his previous mandate, before that the impasse on the vote of the budget does not bring down the government and provoke the legislative elections of March 23.
“I made my decision based on the recommendations (of the parties), which indicate that MP Benjamin Netanyahu has a greater possibility of forming a government,” President Rivlin said in a televised statement. “That is why I decided to entrust him with forming a government.”
This designation of Benjamin Netanyahu comes the day after the resumption of his trial for three cases, notably for “corruption”. Attorney General Liat Ben-Ari accused the prime minister of using his power “illegitimately of the great governmental power vested in him, among other things to seek and obtain unjustified advantages from major media owners in Israel to do so. move forward with personal affairs ”.
Ahead of the criticisms leveled at him, the Israeli president said on Tuesday that he knew “the position that many share, according to which the president should not entrust this task to a candidate who faces criminal charges, but according to the law and the court decision, a prime minister can continue to play his role even when faced with charges ”.
“It is not an easy decision for me, both morally and ethically”, he added, affirming that “no candidate has a real possibility” to obtain the necessary threshold in the Parliament for become de facto head of government. While this threshold is set at 61 MPs, Netanyahu’s group only received the support of 52 MPs, while the centrist Yair Lapid received the support of 45 MPs.
