- by MAJDAL SHAMS
- 07 28, 2024
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WHEN ISRAEL’S new government, led by Naftali Bennett, holds its first cabinet meeting on June 20th, it is expected to appoint an independent commission of inquiry into the disaster at Mount Meron, where 45 people were crushed to death at a religious pilgrimage in April. Mr Bennett’s predecessor, Binyamin Netanyahu, shunned such commissions during his 15 years as prime minister. Mr Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, was not fond of pesky investigators looking into his government’s actions.Mr Bennett’s government will be different in other ways, too. Whereas Mr Netanyahu led a cohesive coalition of right-wing nationalist and religious parties, Mr Bennett leads an unwieldy one that includes some nationalist parties (such as his own, Yamina), as well as left-wing and secular parties—and, for the first time ever, an Arab Islamist party (Ra’am). The new government was approved in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, by just a single vote.