Ending Netanyahu's 12-yr rule, Bennett sworn in as Israel's new PM

Jerusalem: Naftali Bennett was on Sunday sworn in as Israel's new Prime Minister, ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power after an uninterrupted 12 years at the helm of affairs.

Bennett, the 49-year-old leader of the right-wing Yamina party, took oath of office after the Knesset (Parliament) elected him as the 13th Prime Minister of Israel by a 60-59 vote in the 120-member house. One lawmaker abstained.

His government has 27 ministers, nine of them women. The new government - an unprecedented coalition of ideologically divergent political parties drawn from the Right, the Left and the Centre, along with an Arab party - has a razor-thin majority in a 120-member house.

Mickey Levy of Yesh Atid party was elected as the speaker of Parliament with the support of 67 lawmakers.

Earlier, Bennett presented his new government's ministers in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in a speech constantly interrupted by supporters of 71-year-old Netanyahu.

Amid incessant heckling from rival bloc's lawmakers, Bennett said that he is proud "of the ability to sit with people of different opinions".

"At the decisive moment we took responsibility," he said. "The alternative to this government was more elections, more hate, which would have broken up the country."

"It is time for responsible leaders from different parts of the nation to stop this madness, he asserted.

Agitated Likud, ultra-orthodox and ultra-nationalist lawmakers constantly jeered at Bennett during his speech calling him "a criminal" and a "liar".

In his speech, Bennett also said that Israel "will not allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons."

"Israel will not be a party to the agreement and will continue to preserve full freedom of action, he said, opposing the US efforts to revive Iran's nuclear deal.

Bennett, a former ally turned rival of Netanyahu, is leading a fragile coalition of eight parties - Yamina, Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, New Hope, Labor, Meretz, United Arab List, Kahol Lavan and Yisrael Beiteinu.

The alliance contains parties that have vast ideological differences, and perhaps most significantly includes the first independent Arab party to be part of a potential ruling coalition, Ra'am.