Statement & Educational Background About the New Israeli Government, December 2022

Kobi Gideon / Government Press Office

As a new Israeli government is sworn in, StandWithUs reaffirms our support for Israel and respect for Israeli democracy. StandWithUs is a non-partisan education organization that does not endorse or oppose any Israeli political leadership. However, we do educate about Israeli politics and different sides of controversial issues.

In Israel, governments can only be formed when different political parties compromise with each other and form a coalition representing a majority of Israel's Knesset (Parliament). There have been five Israeli elections since 2019, because of deep political divisions and the inability of any faction to form a stable governing coalition.

In the November 2022 election, Israelis were split almost exactly 50/50 between parties that support and oppose the leadership of incoming Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu. The majority of votes went to center-right and center-left parties. However, PM Netanyahu’s current coalition gained a 64-seat majority because the progressive Meretz party and the Arab nationalist Balad party received just under 3.25% of the vote, and thus failed to win any seats in the Knesset. For more detailed background about the elections click HERE.

The new government that was sworn in today is led by PM Netanyahu’s Likud party. Likud’s coalition partners are the Shas, United Torah Judaism, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, and Noam parties.

Click here to read the policy guidelines agreed upon by the coalition. Click the following links for summaries of the deals between Likud and each individual party in its coalition:

• Shas

• UTJ

• Religious Zionism

• Otzma Yehudit

• Noam

While the Israeli government may not implement these agreements, they reflect its priorities as it begins its term in office.

Some Israelis strongly support the new government, while others strongly oppose it or are concerned about its plans. Recent months and weeks have shown that Israel remains a vibrant democracy, with much debate and controversy about past statements and actions by some of the government’s leaders, as well as some of their proposed policies. Many prominent Israeli leaders, organizations, companies, and institutions have spoken out about various issues:

• IDF Chief of Staff concerned about the impact of proposed changes to the military’s chain of command in the West Bank/Judea & Samaria.

• Local governments say they won’t let anti-LGBTQ politician dictate educational programs (including some of the largest cities in Israel).

• Israel Press Council chief vows to prevent curbs on media freedoms.

• Police commissioner says he won’t let politics penetrate the police.

• Major Israeli companies, local governments, and academic institutions say they will boycott entities that engage in discrimination.

• 1,000 former Israeli air force officers, hundreds of business leaders and high-tech workers, 78 retired judges, the head of Israel’s Bar Association, the former President of Israel, and many others have spoken out against plans to limit the power of Israel’s Supreme Court.

Numerous leaders from the government have responded to this criticism:

• Prime Minister Netanyahu says he will set the policies of the government and hold his coalition partners accountable.

• PM Netanyahu pledges to safeguard the rights of minority groups, uphold democracy in Israel, and pursue additional peace deals with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states as part of the Abraham Accords.

• Likud lawmaker Amir Ohana, who has been sworn in as Israel's first openly gay Knesset Speaker, says the government will not hurt the LGBTQ community.

• New Interior Minister Aryeh Deri of the Shas party promises to protect religious freedom and work for all Israelis, including Arab communities.

• A senior Shas spiritual leader vows that his party will not promote actions that harm secular Israelis.

• Incoming Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party, says his proposed policies will strengthen freedom and democracy.

StandWithUs is proud of Israel's Jewish and democratic values. We strongly oppose all forms of bigotry and discrimination, which are antithetical to Israel’s founding principles. We respect Israel's democratic process and will educate about the new government based on its policies and actions going forward. We wish Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government success in representing and defending all of Israel’s citizens, and reaching additional peace agreements with Israel's neighbors through the Abraham Accords.

More broadly, we will continue to support Israel as a thriving Jewish and democratic state, amid ongoing threats in the region and rising antisemitism around the world.

About StandWithUs StandWithUs (SWU) is an international, non-profit and non-partisan Israel education organization that works to inspire and educate people of all ages about Israel, as well as challenge misinformation and fight against antisemitism. Through university fellowships, high school internships, middle school curricula, conferences, materials, social media, educational films and missions to Israel, StandWithUs supports people around the world who want to educate their schools and communities about Israel. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the organization has chapters and programs throughout the U.S., in Israel, the UK, Canada, South Africa, Brazil and the Netherlands. For the last 11 years, SWU has consistently received the highest possible ratings from Charity Navigator (4 stars) and Guidestar (Platinum). www.standwithus.com and www.facebook.com/standwithus and www.twitter.com/standwithus and www.instagram.com/standwithus