Israel’s Knesset approved the country’s 33rd government on March 18 by a vote of 68 to 48, with four absent.
Following the vote, the government ministers were sworn in individually, each promising to be faithful to the State of Israel and its laws, and to fulfill his or her duties as a member of Knesset.
The new government includes 68 of the Knesset’s 120 parliamentarians. It features Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-Beiteinu faction, the Yesh Atid party led by Yair Lapid, the Jewish Home party led by Naftali Bennett and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua party.
The Knesset approved Likud party lawmaker Yuli Edelstein as Knesset speaker, replacing Reuven Rivlin.
Prior to Netanyahu’s introduction of his new government ministers, members of the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism party walked out of the Knesset chambers in an apparent protest at not being included in the new coalition.
The ceremony included a moment of silence in memory of former Knesset member Marina Solodkin, who died in Latvia following an anti-fascism conference. — jta