Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium at the Knesset on Thursday to launch his new government, announcing it would focus on three main goals.
First, he said, it would prevent Iran from “developing an arsenal of atomic weapons that will threaten us and the whole world.” Second, it would develop Israel’s infrastructure and deliver “a flourishing economy to every part of Israel.” Third, it would expand “the circle of peace with Arab states with the goal of ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
As part of his infrastructure development strategy, Netanyahu said he plans to build a cross-country high-speed bullet train from Kiryat Shmoneh to Eilat, and erase the entire concept of a periphery.
Netanyahu also said that his government would restore personal security to Israel’s citizens and “sovereignty” to the State of Israel, addressing fears that Israeli authority has eroded in areas where there are large minority populations, including the Negev and Galilee.
He said his government would address the rising cost of living and improve the education system “for the good of all Israeli citizens.”
Occasionally interrupted by heckling and catcalls from the opposition benches, which got a few opposition members kicked out of the plenum, Netanyahu said, “I hear the opposition’s eulogies about the end of state, the end of democracy—members of the opposition, to lose an election isn’t the end of democracy, it’s the essence of democracy. … And I ask that you cease to rebel against the elected government.”
Jewishpress.com News Desk contributed to this report.
