Of the 18 ministers who take office today, when Mr Ehud Barak's new Israeli government is presented to the Knesset, only one is a woman and none is an Arab. The architects of the Oslo peace process with the Palestinians have been kept out of the key cabinet posts. And two of the top ministers have performed poorly in the same jobs in the past.
Yet today's inauguration of the Barak coalition represents a wider and more accurate reflection of the Israeli electorate than any government this decade, and offers a prospect of dramatic progress toward peace treaties between Israel and its last hostile neighbours.
"Millions of eyes" in the Arab world were watching, Mr Barak told his party leadership last night. And his government would honour its election pledge to "strengthen Israel's security by putting an end to 100 years of conflict in the Middle East ".
Mr Barak, who decisively defeated Mr Benjamin Netanyahu in elections on May 17th, has spent the period since then cobbling together a coalition that includes 75 of the 120 Knesset members from seven parties.
Before today's Knesset swearing-in ceremony, Mr Barak yesterday formally signed the coalition deals with his One Israel party's new partners in government and finalised the distribution of ministerial portfolios having, in the words of one commentator, left some of his colleagues "like sardines frying in a pan of hot oil" while he made up his mind.
His prime consideration, rather than brilliance, appears to have been loyalty. Thus Mr Avraham Shochat, the late Yitzhak Rabin's lacklustre finance minister, is restored to the job, and Mr David Levy, who abandoned Mr Netanyahu to ally himself with Mr Barak before the elections, is rewarded with a return to the foreign ministry where he has achieved little in the past.
But Mr Shimon Peres, pioneer with Mr Rabin of the Oslo peace process, is given only the marginal, ambiguous new post of minister for regional co-operation. While Mr Yossi Beilin, another key Oslo architect, is minister of justice - an honorable position but one with little direct impact on the peace process.
To the dismay of Israeli Arabs, 95 per cent of whom voted for him, Mr Barak has not invited any of the three Arab parties into his coalition, nor given a government post to any of his own party's Arab members. "We're beyond the pale," a Druze Knesset member Mr Salah Tarif muttered bitterly.
Despite a pledge to give at least three ministerial jobs to women, Mr Barak has named only one - his party colleague, Ms Dalia Itzik, the new environment minister. Ms Yael Dayan, another colleague, called the male-dominated cabinet "scandalous".
Mr Barak has also sidelined the One Israel party's rising star, Mr Shlomo Ben-Ami, apparently regarding him as a future threat to his leadership. Mr Ben-Ami will take charge of the middle-ranking ministry of internal security.
Mr Barak and president Clinton agreed in a phone conversation yesterday to meet soon in Washington, the Israeli Prime Minister's spokesman said.