Benjamin Netanyahu, has been ousted from office by a coalition of rivals, ending his 12-year run in power. Israel's new prime minister, Naftali Bennett was sworn in on Sunday after a vote of confidence with the narrowest of margins; 60 votes to 59. Bennett, the far right leader of Yamina party, will be prime minister until September 2023 as part of a power-sharing deal. He will then hand power over to Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, for a further two years.
Bennett leads a self-described “government of change” that is a mix of ideologically opposed politicians from the left (Labor), the centre (Lapid), hardline Jewish religious nationalists and a small Arab Islamist party. Bennett has long opposed the two-state solution - and the cessation of military action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He is in support of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.