(RightIsRight.co) – Conservative Benjamin Netanyahu has become the state leader of Israel once again after he was sworn in as the nation’s Prime Minister for the sixth time.
Netanyahu assumed the leadership of Israel anew after, in November, a conservative bloc led by him performed strongly in the general election, which was the fifth vote in the country in the past four years.
As a result, Netanyahu’s party Likud and its right-wing alliance, including formations described as far-right, secured an outright majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
Netanyahu is already the longest-serving Prime Minister of the State of Israel, after stints from 1996-1999 and 2009-2021.
As Netanyahu was inaugurated, the outgoing Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, whose liberal party Yesh Atid came in second in the election, refused to shake hands with his successor and left the Knesset session early, Breitbart News reported.
“With great unease we are handing the country over to the elected government,” liberal leader Lapid tweeted.
“We pass onto you a state in excellent condition, with a strong economy, with improved security capabilities, with our international status at the highest it has ever been. Try not to destroy it, we’ll be right back,” he added.
Israel’s new-old Prime Minister presented the top three priorities for his government in an address to the legislature.
The first priority of Netanyahu’s sixth Cabinet will be to “thwart Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons,” as the Shiite Islamist regime in Tehran has been threatening for decades to “erase” Israel from the map.
Netanyahu’s second priority will be investing in infrastructure, including the launch of a high-speed train line to link peripheral regions to Israel’s center.
He described his new government’s third priority as “expanding the circle of peace” with Israel’s Arab neighbors “in order to end the Israeli-Arab conflict.”
In his speech, Netanyahu blasted his predecessor Yair Lapid for stating that the former leader’s new victory was “the end of democracy.”
“Members of the opposition, losing the elections is not the end of democracy – it is the essence of democracy,” Netanyahu declared.
“A democratic regime is tested first of all by the willingness of the losing side to accept the majority’s decision,” he elaborated.
While the Likud leader was being sworn in, hundreds of leftist protesters had gathered outside the Knesset building, including some who were carrying LGBT rainbow flags.
Leftists have been attacking Netanyahu for having the “anti-gay” Noam party in his conservative alliance.
Regardless, on Thursday, Amir Ohana, a Knesset member from Netanyahu’s Likud party, became the first openly gay speaker of the Israeli legislature.
“This is the sixth time that I present a government under my leadership. I’m as overwhelmed as the first time,” Netanyahu stated in his speech.
Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in on Thursday for the sixth time as Israel’s prime minister, while his predecessor Yair Lapid flouted the traditional handshake that occurs at the change of power and exited the Knesset plenum early. https://t.co/pF0cTndjws
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 29, 2022
