JERUSALEM (AP) - For the first time in 12 years, Israelis on Monday woke up to a new government and a new prime minister, after Naftali Bennett secured the backing of parliament and ousted longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu.The two were slated to hold a handover meeting later in the day, but without the formal ceremony that traditionally accompanies a change in government.Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, narrowly approved the new Bennett-led coalition government on Sunday, ending Netanyahu’s historic 12-year rule.
The divisive former prime minister, the longest to hold office, will now serve as the opposition leader.David Bitan, a Likud lawmaker, told Kan public radio that Netanyahu was not holding the formal ceremony with Bennett because.