Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (3rd L) attends a ceremony to inaugurate Israel's 21st Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 30, 2019. The newly-elected Israeli parliament, or Knesset, was sworn in on Tuesday, three weeks after the April 9 elections. (Xinhua/JINI)
JERUSALEM, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The newly-elected Israeli parliament, or Knesset, was sworn in on Tuesday, three weeks after the April 9 elections.
In a ceremony to inaugurate Israel's 21st Knesset, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin made a speech to the newly-elected 120 members of the Knesset.
Delivering a message against racism and calling for national unity, Rivlin urged the lawmakers to "to fight for our common home where secular, religious, ultra-Orthodox, Jews and Arabs - yes, they are called Arabs and nothing will happen if we say it - right and left, can find themselves equal."
He called on the lawmakers to "put down the cudgels of elections and to clean up the mess" after the "difficult election campaign" in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a fifth term in office.
Both Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and the opposition party of Blue and White won 35 seats. However, Netanyahu was tasked with forming a new governing coalition because Likud and the right-wing and ultra-Orthodox allies hold a majority of 65 seats in the Knesset.
Netanyahu is expected to face a hearing in the next few months over corruption allegations after the Attorney General decided to indict him for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
