Knesset

Holding an Israeli flag, key anti-reform protest organizer Shikma Bressler led tens of thousands of demonstrators outside the Knesset, chanting: "We will not give up!", The Times of Israel reported.
Bressler was arrested at protests last week and later released.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to back down on Wednesday, saying his government has no intention of returning to four abandoned settlements in the occupied West Bank under a law that was repealed by parliament this week.

A coalition of ideologically divergent parties ousted on Sunday the hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and formed a new government in a seismic shift in the country's turbulent politics.

A motley alliance of Israeli parties on June 13 ended Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 straight years as prime minister, as parliament voted in a new government led by his former ally, right-wing Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett.

Israel is set to swear in a new government on June 13 that will send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the opposition after a record 12 years in office and a political crisis that sparked four elections in two years.

Romania is "a genuine friend of the Jewish people and of Israel in the fight against anti-Semitism," Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told a join plenary sitting of the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents announced on June 2 that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.

Leaders of the far-right Yamina and centrist Yesh Atid, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, and Ra''am (United Arab List) chairman Mansour Abbas have reached an agreement on a unity government whose deadline was midnight local time.
In a statement on Twitter, Lapid said that he informed the president of the country about the agreement.

Israeli opposition parties have reached an agreement to form a new government that would end Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year tenure as prime minister.

Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, announced an eight-faction coalition had been formed.

Isaac Herzog, a veteran politician and the scion of a prominent Israeli family, has been elected president, a largely ceremonial role.

An anonymous vote was held on June 2 among the 120 members of the Knesset, or parliament.