Israel's new government gets to work after Netanyahu ouster

Israel has a new prime minister for the first time in 12 years after Naftali Bennett secured the backing of parliament and ousted longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu

JERUSALEM -- For the first time in 12 years, Israelis on Monday woke up to a new government and a new prime minister after Naftali Bennett secured the backing of parliament and ousted longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The two were slated to hold a handover meeting later in the day, but without the formal ceremony that traditionally accompanies a change in government. Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, narrowly approved the new Bennett-led coalition government on Sunday, ending Netanyahu’s historic 12-year rule. The divisive former prime minister, the longest to hold office, will now serve as the opposition leader. Under a coalition agreement, Bennett will hold office of the premier for the first two years of the term, and then Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, the architect of the coalition, will become prime minister.