Israel had its fifth elections in less than four years on November 1st and the results showed a majority secured by the bloc of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is likely that a right-wing government will now form in Israel and this prompted alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to call on it to not ‘trample’ the left.
The election’s outcome
The former premier is going to leave politics and retire and he urged all left-wing Israelis to not be worried about the outcome of the recent elections.
It is expected that the next coalition will comprise of the Likud party led by Netanyahu, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas factions and the Religious Zionism alliance of the far-right.
The factions were able to win a total of 64 seats in the Knesset out of the total 120, which gives them the majority needed for forming the next government.
On Friday, Bennett issued a statement saying that the results should not be considered the end of the country.
He also criticized the ‘talk’ about leaving the country in response to the voting on Tuesday and the possibility of parents refusing to send their kids in combat units for the military service considered mandatory.
Bennett’s message
Bennett said that the government’s identity cannot determine the service of the Israeli Defense Force. He added that the country belonged to everyone and they could not have any other land.
Those who supported the outgoing government have a great deal of concerns about the expected new government and Bennett sought to tame them a bit.
He asserted that he believed that the ministers of the new government would not serve just a specific community, but would work for the general public.
Bennett refrained from naming any specific ministries and politicians, but did say that minister always sees a fuller and broader picture whenever they take office, especially in the field of diplomatic security.
More details
Bennett also had a message for the right-religious bloc that has emerged victorious in the elections. He said that the losing side needs to be respected.
He called on them to not run over or trample anyone. He also acknowledged the results of the election result and said that the opposition leader’s bloc has won the right to implement their policies.
But, he also added that they should not make anyone feel unwelcome. He said that both the right-wing and left-wing love the country and only their opinions about the correct direction differ.
He also defended his own stint as the prime minister that had lasted a year and came to an end when the coalition collapsed back in June.
He appeared to take a swipe at Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he had replaced in 2021. He asserted that when he took his role, there was mass unemployment, an economic crisis, no budget, coronavirus waves and arson and rockets in the south.
He then went on to say that he had returned it as a country with a strong budget, economic growth and the quietest south in two decades.