Knesset Swears In, Sa'ar Gets Another Desk, Nothing Changes

One day after the 26th Knesset was sworn in, the Israeli government approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to hand Gideon Sa'ar a second job. Sa'ar, already foreign minister, will now also run the Interior Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Wednesday. "I thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his show of confidence," Sa'ar said. "After more than a year without a serving minister, I will focus on providing practical solutions to urgent and important issues." A ministry sat without a minister for over a year. Nobody in power seems to have noticed the difference.

The Swearing-In and the Sermon

The ceremony itself was meant to be procedural. Two weeks after Netanyahu's far-right bloc lost the elections, following historic turnout from Palestinian citizens of Israel, the new parliament convened in Jerusalem with an unprecedented 19 members from the Joint List alliance and the Ra'am party. Netanyahu used the occasion to deliver what Eisenkot called a "delusional, divisive, hate-filled and shameful speech."

He opened with Iran, saying the only way to remove the nuclear threat permanently was "by toppling the regime of the ayatollahs." He boasted of Israeli military achievements in the occupied Palestinian territories, Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Then he turned on the Palestinian-led parties, claiming Ra'am and the Joint List "agree that the Jewish state must be destroyed." Middle East Eye described that claim as false, noting that both parties, which include Jewish MPs, have repeatedly called for a two-state solution with Israel as an independent state alongside Palestine.

Ynet counted the words. Netanyahu said "Jewish" 20 times and "unity" four times. He named none of the opposition bloc's leaders. Words relating to Palestinians, including "Palestinians, Arabs, terrorism and Caliphate," came up 36 times. His bloc holds 53 seats, yet he called for a Jewish-only government under his own leadership.

The Opposition's Own Flags

The condemnation came fast. Naftali Bennett interrupted mid-speech: "What about a State Commission of Inquiry? Why don't you declare Qatar an enemy state? What about your Qatari advisers?" Yair Golan stormed out. Gadi Eisenkot, tasked this week with forming a coalition, wrote on X that Netanyahu was "unfit to remain in office for even one minute more," and cancelled coalition talks with Likud, Israel Hayom reported.

Mansour Abbas, leader of the conservative Ra'am party, said he was "astounded that the prime minister would exploit a state occasion to lie, to incite and to spread blood libel about the Arab parties." His rebuttal is a loyalty oath in its own right: "We don't want to establish an Islamist state or an Arab state. This is where the State of Israel was established." The Joint List called Netanyahu "bloodthirsty and criminal," in "a state of complete hysteria," and pledged to send his government "to the dustbin of history."

Middle East Eye cited a Haaretz report that Netanyahu and his media allies had prepared the ground for an attack on the Palestinian vote. Since the election, Shin Bet chief David Zini, described as a loyalist, has opened investigations into election fraud and foreign interference. When citizens vote in record numbers, the security services open files.

The Open Letter Trap

Over 2,000 Jews across 27 countries signed an open letter, initiated by The London Initiative, urging Eisenkot, Bennett, Lapid, Golan, Liberman, Abbas and Yousef Jabareen to form a "coalition of change." It promises to repair "Israel's weakened liberal democracy," renew the pursuit of "secure peace with the Palestinian people," and welcome "the inclusion of parties representing Israel's Arab citizens." It asks a ruling class to fix what a ruling class broke, and invokes the Declaration of Independence as the blueprint.

The signatories include Charles Bronfman, Birthright's founder, former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind, and former ambassador Matthew Gould. The letter rejects a "so-called 'Unity Government'" that papers over fundamental disagreements, noting that "many years of repeated good faith attempts at unity governments have all ended in abject failure." Mick Davis, one of the initiative's leaders, said: "We need real leadership to ensure that this opportunity is not missed." The letter's own wording shows what's at stake for its authors: Jews who "rely on the safeguards provided to us by liberal democratic norms" and a better standing for Israel with the United States, "its most important ally."

Who Gets Crushed

The Jerusalem Post's opinion pages, meanwhile, offered the usual menu. One writer urged Israel to use the political window to help Iran's opposition establish a protected foothold inside the country, with a January 2029 deadline. Another saw a chance to replace Netanyahu with an Eisenkot-led coalition. Not one of the proposals in this coverage involves anyone under the Knesset's authority having a say in the arrangement.

The base facts show a pattern. A government that left a ministry empty for more than a year now reshuffles two portfolios onto one man. A security chief investigates the votes of those who turned out in force. And the alternative on offer is a coalition of parties inviting the faithful abroad to petition for better management of the same apparatus. Elections happened. The occupied territories Netanyahu boasted about didn't get a vote.