Senior Likud party member Yariv Levin elected as new Knesset speaker

On Tuesday, a new Knesset speaker was elected, a crucial preliminary step for Netanyahu to clear legal hurdles to appoint government ministers.

Yariv Levin, 53, a Likud party member and close ally of Netanyahu, has replaced Mikey Levy. Levin will serve as interim parliament speaker only because he's presumed to be going to the Justice Ministry as a minister. 

Sixty-four parliament members voted in favour of Levin. 

Yesh Atid party nominee Merav Ben Ari received forty-five votes, while al-Jabha leader Ayman Odeh took five.

Yariv Levin will likely rush to call votes on legislation to clear the way for the Shas party leader, convicted of tax fraud and currently serving a suspended prison sentence, to become a minister. 

Levin will also call the Knesset to vote to expand the powers of the incoming national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, over the police force and the appointment of a minister within the defence ministry to head the Civil Administration, in charge of managing the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Moreover, the prime minister-designate has still to address new demands by Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben Gvir and lagging negotiations with United Torah Judaism, the ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi party, before announcing a government. 

Accordingly, he may ask for additional time to form a government as the 20 December deadline nears. 

The United Torah Judaism party is pressing for lawmaking that would allow Jewish law students to defer mandatory military conscription until it is no longer required by law. They also want beach bathing and electricity generation to cease on the Sabbath- but that's unlikely to go through. 

Ben Gvir's latest ultimatum is to have veto power in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation or to be appointed the committee's deputy chairman. 

The committee reviews suggested legislation and decide whether the government will support the bill. 

Recently, the inflammatory Ben Gvir told supporters that he intends to resume visits to the al-Haram-al-Sharif. That, however, is likely subject to the approval of the PM. 

The outgoing government, headed by PM Yair Lapid, dubbed the government of change,  was wildly unpopular among Palestinians on both sides of the green line. Its brief reign, which began in June 2021, saw the highest number of casualties among Palestinians in more than a decade. 

"בממשלת השינוי נהרגו יותר פלסטינים מאשר בכל ממשלה שקדמה לה" - @Ahmad_tibi בביקורת כלפי הממשלה הנוכחית@yairlapid @gantzbe @naftalibennett pic.twitter.com/on1fbbX3Gz

— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) December 12, 2022