Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, on Wednesday announced that he had succeeded in forming a coalition government that is set to bring him back to power at the helm of the most rightwing administration in Israeli history.
Once finalized and ratified by parliament in the coming days, the coalition deal will return Netanyahu to office just 18 months after he left it, amid concerns that his reliance on far-right factions will cause Israel to drift away from liberal democracy.
Netanyahu will lead a hard-line six-party coalition whose members seek to upend the judicial system, reduce Palestinian autonomy in the occupied West Bank, further strengthen Israel’s Jewish character and maximize state support for the most religious Jews.