Barring any dramatic last-minute changes, Benjamin Netanyahu's historic 12-year run as Prime Minister of Israel will end today.
Parties in the incoming coalition will meet in the Yamina party's room in the Knesset at 2:00p.m., after which they will hold separate meetings at 3:15p.m.
The Knesset plenum will meet at 4:00p.m., to be followed by a toast to be held in the Chagall State Hall with the Speaker of the Knesset-elect.
At 9:00p.m., there will be a celebratory meeting of the incoming government on the occasion of the formation of the 36th Government of Israel, held in the Jerusalem Hall in the Knesset.
Statements will be delivered at the beginning of the meeting by the Prime Minister-designate Naftali Bennett (Yamina) and the Alternate Prime Minister-designate Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid). Netanyahu will also deliver his first speech as chairman of the opposition.
Netanyahu entered office as prime minister on March 31, 2009, and has served continuously since then. He also served as prime minister from 1996-1999, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history.
Netanyahu is the only Israeli prime minister to sign peace agreements with more than one Arab state, having signed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan in 2020.
The new government is considered to be historic, as it includes an Arab party, the United Arab List, for the first time. In addition, Naftali Bennett will be Israel's first religious prime minister.