Israel’s longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has successfully formed his next government, which is expected to be the most rightwing administration in the history of the Jewish state.
“I have a government in hand,” Netanyahu said in a call with President Isaac Herzog, less than an hour before a midnight deadline that would have seen his mandate to establish a government expire.
The new government will be sworn in late next week or at the start of the new year, returning Netanyahu, a divisive and ruthless political operator, to power after 18 months in opposition. It will be his sixth term as prime minister, extending his more than decade-long dominance over Israeli politics after the country went through five elections in three and half years.