Today’s Headlines: Netanyahu is ousted

An Israeli epoch comes to a close as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving leader, is out.

TOP STORIES

Netanyahu Is Ousted

Israeli lawmakers have brought down the curtain on the long-running rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, installing a new prime minister with similarly hard-line ideology but a stated determination to stem the rancor and polarization that have become hallmarks of the country’s public life.

By the narrowest possible vote — 60 to 59, with one abstention — the 120-member Knesset, or parliament, ushered in a ruling coalition cobbled together from wildly disparate political parties with little in common beyond a shared desire to expel Netanyahu from the office he had held for the last 12 years. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption, and in recent years, many Israelis had become alarmed by an accelerating slide into autocracy.

“At the decisive moment, we have taken responsibility,” Naftali Bennett, the new prime minister, told lawmakers as the Knesset prepared to vote. “We stopped the train, a moment before it barreled into the abyss.”

Bennett, 49, heads a small party determined to thwart Palestinian statehood and maintain Israeli control over most of the occupied West Bank. But his government includes parties from Israel’s left and center, and also marks a historic first: participation in the ruling coalition by an Islamist party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. Bennett will split the four-year term with centrist politician Yair Lapid.

More International Politics

— President Biden finished three days of meetings with Group of 7 leaders in Cornwall, lauding new agreements by the world’s leading democracies to collaborate on efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, combat climate change and counter the growing threat of autocracies, with a rebuke of China for human rights abuses. In addition, Biden became the 13th U.S. head of state to be received by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who welcomed him and First Lady Jill Biden to Windsor Castle.

A History of Complaints

The USC Song Girls program and its longtime coach are the subject of a Title IX investigation, but this is not the first time.

The Times has learned that five years before the current inquiry into discrimination, harassment and retaliation within the program, there was another investigation.

USC found “insufficient evidence” in 2016 that Song Girls coach Lori Nelson violated university policies against sexual harassment and retaliation. University officials declined to comment on the 2016 investigation. But the complaint has prompted questions about how the university is handling new complaints about the program.

Recently resigned longtime coach Nelson has denied allegations of harassment.

A Question of Trust

Since the coronavirus invaded our lives 15 months ago, we’ve been on an emotional journey that took us through isolation and despair, anger and grief. For many, there is anxiety, as California is set for a full reopening Tuesday.

Now, as Times science reporter Deborah Netburn writes, “we must confront yet another emotional hurdle: our willingness to trust others.”

We’ll have to rely on multiple lines of trust on things such as vaccines and masks. But surveys suggest Americans’ willingness to trust one another was already in decline before the pandemic began.

More Top Coronavirus Headlines

— California has begun the process of unwinding more than a year of pandemic-related restrictions and emergency actions while continuing efforts to persuade the skeptical and reluctant to get vaccinated.

— The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has issued new instructions to its more than 300 parishes to host full indoor Masses without restrictions for vaccinated parishioners, such as social distancing and mask-wearing, beginning Saturday and Sunday.

— In India, the pandemic relapse is spelling trouble for the middle class.

Before the Shaking Starts

Are you ready for the next big earthquake?

The Times has put together a series about earthquake preparation, including essential food and supplies for your earthquake kit, a story on how to talk to your kids about quakes, and a guide to retrofitting your home. We even have a six-week newsletter course about quake prep that you can sign up for here.

But as famed seismologist Lucy Jones writes, “If you really want to be ready for the next big earthquake, forget the earthquake kit and go talk to your neighbors.”

OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND

— Hollywood’s persistent Latino culture gap and what creators are doing about it. Plus, a brutally honest history of Latinos in Hollywood.

— A dying girl, a fateful blessing and the lessons of California’s tragic origin myth.

— Robert Greene of the Los Angeles Times was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials that advanced the cause of criminal justice reform.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

In 1948, Harry Truman visited Los Angeles twice. Both times he was greeted at Union Station by large groups of photographers.

The Los Angeles Times went all out for this visit — publishing several pages of stories and images the following day. One story, headlined “Record Photog Turnout Snaps Chief Executive,” reported on Truman’s encounter with photographers at Union Station.

June 14, 1948: During a campaign stop, President Harry Truman poses with Speed Graphic-equipped Los Angeles photographers at Union Station.

(Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

— While LAPD shootings have dramatically declined in recent decades, scrutiny has grown in recent months around shootings in which mentally ill, intoxicated or homeless people are shot by police while armed not with firearms but with knives, swords, heavy tools or other blunt objects.

— A major heat wave featuring record-high temperatures is expected to sweep over the Los Angeles area this week, with the highest temperatures forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.

— The State Bar of California acknowledged this week that its investigators had mishandled years of complaints against disgraced legal titan and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member Tom Girardi.

— At last, the Class of 2021 has been getting together — for graduation. Here are some of the new grads’ experiences.

NATION-WORLD

— Apple informed former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn and his wife that the Justice Department had subpoenaed information in 2018 about accounts belonging to them, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press, days after two House lawmakers disclosed that they too had had their information secretly subpoenaed.

— After facing threats and intimidation during the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, and now the potential of new punishments in certain states, county officials who run elections are quitting or retiring early. Who will take these jobs?

— War reduced parts of Gaza to rubble. For this family-run concrete-crushing business, it’s their job to take it away.

— What’s size got to do with it? In South Korea, mocking a man’s manhood spurs a reverse #MeToo.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— A box-office expert explains why “In the Heights” may yet have legs after a dismal opening.

— Some fans have turned against the Foo Fighters after hearing concertgoers in New York City need proof of vaccination.

— Ned Beatty, the character actor whose first film role in 1972’s “Deliverance” launched him on a long, prolific and accomplished career, has died at 83.

— These are the E3 trailers you need for a glimpse at the future of video games.

BUSINESS

— The newsletters business is booming (thanks to you!), and Substack along with it. But one big thing still stands between writers and their readers: Google and its mysterious Gmail inbox filter.

— Did you retire too early? These side jobs could pad out your budget.

SPORTS

— The Clippers are eager to exorcise their false-start demons in Game 4 versus the Utah Jazz tonight.

— Walker Buehler’s dependability is proving vital as questions surround the Dodgers’ pitchers, columnist Dylan Hernández writes.

OPINION

— To solve homelessness, California should declare a right to housing, The Times’ editorial board writes.

— “The radicalization of the Republican Party has been the biggest story of my career,” writes The Times’ White House editor, Jackie Calmes.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— Critical race theory: Who gets to decide what is history? (The Christian Science Monitor)

— To get better sleep, stop treating it like a chore. (The Atlantic)

ONLY IN L.A.

For decades, the San Pedro Fish Market & Restaurant quietly built up a loyal following that spent about $30 million a year before the pandemic on its heaping trays of shrimp, lobster and other seafood shared at spare metal tables on a weathered wooden pier. Now the family that runs it wants to supersize the restaurant and create one of the largest dining establishments in the U.S., capable of seating 5,500 people — to the tune of $140 million.

Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com.