Israel's parliament voted in favour of a new grand coalition government on Sunday, ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure.
The new government was brought in by a razor-thin margin of 60 to 59. One member abstained.
It brings together unlikely partners including right-wing nationalist Naftali Bennett, centrist former TV host Yair Lapid and Arab Mansour Abbas.
The vote in the Knesset on Sunday pushed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, out of power and ended a two-year cycle of political paralysis in which the country held four elections.
Mr Bennett addressed the Knesset before the vote.
His speech was met by heckling from members of Mr Netanyahu's Likud party. Several members of parliament were ushered out after yelling during Mr Bennett's speech.
"The loud tone of the screams is the same as the failure to govern during your term in office," he said. "It’s time for responsible leaders from different parts of the nation to stop this madness."
He named his cross-party Cabinet members. Mr Lapid will be the alternate prime minister and Foreign Minister while Benny Gantz will continue as Defence Minister.
Mr Lapid, who had been due to make a speech, stood before parliament only briefly to say: “I want to ask forgiveness from my mother.
"My mother is 86 years old. We don't ask her lightly to come to Jerusalem, but we did this because I assumed that you would be able to restrain yourselves and act in a statesman-like manner at this important moment, and she would see how a government is replaced."
Mr Netanyahu did not leave quietly, taking his last opportunity to speak as prime minister to criticise the new government’s stand on Iran and claim voter fraud.
He said that under his leadership, the right wing had turned Israel into a world leader.
"We did this without surrendering to international pressures, but out of fostering the economic, the defensive prowess of the state of Israel," Mr Netanyahu said.
He said the new "left-wing" government would do little to battle Iran and the US attempt to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, a policy Mr Netanyahu has opposed.
“Bennett hasn’t got the international standing, the integrity, the capability, the knowledge and he hasn’t got the government to oppose the nuclear agreement," he told the Knesset.
"That is the biggest problem. An Israeli PM needs to be able to say no to the leader of the world’s superpower."
But Nr Netanyahu promised he would return to Israeli politics. He pledged to not be silenced and said he would do "daily battle against the incoming government".
The new government will be politically wide-ranging and includes the far left and the far right.
It will also be a significant moment in Israeli history because an independent Arab party is included.
Mr Bennett will be prime minister for the first two years before handing over to Mr Lapid for the last two years of the parliament's term – if they can keep the coalition together that long.
12 years of Benjamin Netanyahu – in pictures
-
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press at southern port of Eilat, on March 10, 2014, as Israel displayed advanced rockets seized from a ship allegedly transporting arms from Iran to Gaza. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, the then Israeli permanent envoy to the United Nations, holds up a file on Nazi criminal Alois Brunner during a news conference at the UN headquarters in November 1987. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, left, adviser to the then Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, right, in Madrid on October 30, 1991. AFP -
Palestinians listen to the radio for the results of Israeli elections where Benjamin Netanyahu was an important player, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 30, 1996. AFP -
Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shakes hands with ultra orthodox students of a religious school in Beni Brak, near Tel Aviv, in May 1996. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the joint session of US Congress as Speaker of the US House Newt Gingrich, right, and US Vice President Al Gore, left, listen on July 10, 1996. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, second left, US President Bill Clinton, right, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, left, and King Hussein of Jordan at the White House in October 1996. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu announces his resignation from the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, during a meeting of the Likud party central committee in Tel Aviv, on May 27, 1999, following his election defeat to Ehud Barak. AFP -
Mr Netanyahu, then Israeli finance minister, visits the biology lab of the Lauder-Reut school in the Romanian capital Bucharest on December 18, 2003. AFP -
Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu visits an archaeological site just outside the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, on February 2, 2009. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Shimon Peres, right, escort Pope Benedict XVI after the pontiff's arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on May 11, 2009. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US President Barack Obama during their meeting at the White House in Washington on May 18, 2009. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, left, Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, second left, and Slovenian Prime minister Borut Pahor, second right, at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting on May 27, 2010 in Paris. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak watch as Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, second right, is received by his father Noam, right, following his release from the Hamas captivity, in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2011. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses a diagram to describe Iran's nuclear programme at the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 27, 2012, in New York. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, his wife Sara, then US Vice President Joe Biden, right and former British prime minister Tony Blair attend a state memorial service for Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon on January 13, 2014. Getty Images -
Benjamin Netanyahu along with other heads of state takes part in a unity rally in Paris on January 11, 2015, after a three-day killing spree by homegrown extremists. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump before the US president's departure from Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017. Getty Images -
Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, greet supporters during his post-ballot speech on April 10, 2019 in Tel Aviv. Getty Images -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, US President Donald Trump and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, after signing the Abraham Accord in Washington in September 2020. AFP -
Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Muscat. EPA -
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi (right) speaks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 18, 2017, in their first public meeting together. Reuters -
King Abdullah II of Jordan shakes hands with Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their meeting in Amman on January 16, 2014. AFP
The coalition parties have agreed to largely sidestep divisive topics, including policy towards Palestinians, and focus on domestic reform and rebuilding the economy battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Centrist Mickey Levy was voted in as the new Speaker of parliament, solidifying the new government era.
The vote for Mr Levy came before the vote to confirm the new government, which was immediately sworn in.
The now former prime minister will take up the role in opposition, holding the new government to account.
Protesters gathered outside Mr Netanyahu’s home at the weekend chanting “Bye bye Bibi, bye bye”, using his popular nickname.
They celebrated the downfall of a man facing trial for corruption and what opponents say is a legacy of placing his own political survival above the needs of the country.
“Netanyahu’s ideology throughout the last 12 years has been a disaster – just like the Trump administration,” said Haim Flikier, 69, a supporter of the new government.
"It won’t be easy with Bennett but we need to change the dynamics, we need to unite people. We need stability, peace and brotherhood.”
But Mr Netanyahu's many supporters will struggle to accept the end of the road for a defining figure in Israeli politics and a man who has dealt with years of international pressure on the peace process while defending the nation from the threat he sees from Iran.
Who is in the new Israeli coalition?
Yair Lapid: Yesh Atid (There is a Future) 17 seats
Benny Gantz: Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) 8 seats
Avigdor Lieberman: Israel Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) 7 seats
Merav Michaeli: HaAvoda (Labour) 7 seats
Naftali Bennett: Yamina (Rightwards) 7 seats
Gideon Sa'ar: Tikva Hadasha (New Hope) 6 seats
Nitzan Horowitz: Meretz (Vigour) 6 seats
Mansour Abbas: Raam (United Arab List) 4 seats
Read more:
Who is in Israel's new coalition government?
Biden and Merkel lead international community in 'warm' welcome for new Israeli government
