Ultra-nationalist politician Itamar Ben-Gvir will be Israel’s security minister under a coalition deal with prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
The agreement comes after Netanyahu’s conservative alliance won a comfortable victory in this month’s parliamentary election, Israel’s fifth in less than four years.
Netanyahu is still continuing talks with three other parties on forming the new government.
“We took a big step (last night) towards a full coalition agreement, toward forming a fully, fully right-wing government,” Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, said in a statement.
Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and backing a group considered by Israel and the United States to be a terrorist organisation, will have an expanded security portfolio that will include responsibility for border police in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the appointment would have a “potentially catastrophic impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and hinder the revival of negotiations between the two sides.
Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel analyst at International Crisis Group, said Ben-Gvir’s expanded security portfolio could be a “game changer” in the West Bank, which is under the effective control of the Israeli military.
“Israel is moving more and more powers that were normally held by the defence ministry or military to civilian ministries,” she said.
Read the article in the Manning River Times (AAP).