Israel Swears in New Government, Ending Netanyahu's Rule

WASHINGTON - Israel on Sunday swore in a new government, ending the 12-year rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and making Naftali Bennett, the head of a small, religious ultranationalist party, the new leader of the Jewish state. 

Bennett will be prime minister for two years, under an unlikely power-sharing agreement among eight political parties with little in common other than wanting to end the tumultuous tenure of Netanyahu. Bennett is a former Netanyahu ally who served as his defense minister in 2019 and 2020.   Then, Bennett, 49, will be replaced for two years by Yair Lapid, 57, a one-time finance minister and former TV news anchor who brokered the deal to oust Netanyahu.  Lapid won the second-biggest vote total behind Netanyahu’s Likud party last March, the fourth indecisive Israeli election in the last two years.