Emma Bouvin: Netanyahu can no longer say what he wants

Benjamin Netanyahu has served as interim prime minister several times before. In that role, he has given several speeches to the Knesset's newly elected parliamentarians, during the ceremonial opening of the Israeli parliament. There is a practice for this speech: It is about paying tribute to Israel's democracy and wishing prosperity and strength for the coming term.

When Netanyahu took the podium on Tuesday, he had a different agenda. He wanted to force the Jewish parties in the opposition to join him.

For 21 minutes, he talked about how Israel will be destroyed from within, if Gadi Eisenkot - tasked with forming a government - does not fit. For the Arabs.

It is often muddy and messy in the knesset. Politicians shout, protest and get thrown out, but it's usually connected to debates, not inauguration speeches. Several members marched out on Tuesday in protest against what "Bibi" had to say, both about things he claimed Arab representatives had said 15 years ago, and about the election being "stolen".

The only difference between the two Arab factions, Netanyahu argued, is that they do not agree on what kind of state should be established on "the ruins of the Jewish state."

- An Islamist state modeled after the Muslim Brotherhood, like Hamas in Gaza, or a nationalist Palestinian state modeled after Fatah. On one point, however, they agree: Israel, as a Jewish state, has no right to exist, Netanyahu said.

Mansour Abbas of the Arab Ra'am party said afterwards that he was "stunned that the prime minister is using a state event to lie, incite and spread accusations against the Arab parties".

- We are law-abiding citizens of Israel. We do not want to establish an Islamist state or an Arab state. This is where the state of Israel was founded; we define ourselves as citizens of the State of Israel.

For years, Netanyahu has been used to being able to say what he wants, without reprisal. But there are new times now.

It is only six years since Netanyahu himself cooperated with Mansour Abbas, but he seems to have repressed that. Just as he has completely forgotten that for several years he pushed through a policy of transferring resources from Qatar to Hamas-controlled Gaza and that several of his closest associates are being investigated for bribes to Qatar in particular.

The same country that the outgoing prime minister accused in his speech of being behind the Arab parties' enormous success in the elections.

But then he was interrupted - by Naftali Bennett, the leader of the opposition party but also the man who has described himself as "more right-wing than Netanyahu".

- What about a commission to investigate October 7? What about your Qatari advisors? he roared from the audience bench.

Netanyahu went on to address the ultra-Orthodox parties, whose core issues he has ducked for the past four years, but then not many were listening anymore. There was a fight in the audience, it was Bennett against Netanyahu's wife Sara and it was the extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir who shouted about how many Arab politicians went out in protest against the Israeli national anthem.

The action has also been described as "tactless" by media that are friendly to the Arab parties, even though the protest is about a stanza in the song that contains the words "a Jewish soul".

For years, Netanyahu has been used to being able to say what he wants, without reprisal. But there are new times now. After his appearance in the Knesset, Eisenkot announced that his party is canceling a planned meeting with Netanyahu's Likud.

"Netanyahu attacked the citizens of Israel tonight, which was another sad reminder to whoever still needs proof: Netanyahu does not want unity," Eisenkot said Tuesday night.