It is just over fourteen hours ago that the polls closed in Israel and the speculations, calculations and confusion began. And while, with the predictions on all three TV stations last night at ten pm, Netanyahu had a clear advantage and should be able to set up a government, considering that the opportunist Bennett will go with him, by morning the picture had changed and before noon it appeared already that even with Bennett’s Yamina party, Netanyahu would not have the required majority to set up a government. Of course, in the meantime, Mahmoud Abbas and his party, who was predicted not to pass the election threshold appears to be defying the odds and is now slated to obtain four and maybe even five seats in the new Knesset. Abbas has, like Bennett, never committed himself to either camp, but is by many to be understood to be willing to join a Netanyahu government if the conditions are right. And with Bennett having lost this pivotal role for Netanyahu, the latter will go all out to assure that Abbas will join him, no matter the cost.
Of course the slight chance that Bennett will join the anti-Bibi camp is still an option but the extremes in this camp are such that even if he did so decide, chances that anything practical will emerge from this, are slim indeed.
There are still many other possibilities. Israel politics being what it is, it is not unthinkable that the religious parties, seeing that Netanyahu is not going to succeed to set up another government they can extort, will agree to go with Bennett and Sa’ar in the anti-Bibi camp, even if Lapid will play a major role there.
While it appears that a fifth round of elections is unavoidable, based on the results as they stand now, and even with promises by almost all politicians involved that they will prevent at all costs this from happening, it is clear to all, that their interests, their egos, and their stupidity may quickly result in another round, another couple of billions wasted, and another six months of power vacuum that will be exploited to the hilt by Netanyahu.
No matter what the outcome in the end, there are two issues that have come forward in this round of the elections that should and must be emphasized as much as possible.
The first one is of course the sad conclusion that the Israeli public is still willing to support a man like Netanyahu, even after he has been indicted for multiple crimes, serious crimes, that he committed against the State of Israel and thus against all of us. Is this an indication of the lack of trust the public has in the judicial system after Netanyahu made unrelenting efforts to discredit the system? Or is Netanyahu simply looked at as a man who made it, who beat the system, and who can have his cake and eat it as well? Either way of course it is rather inconceivable that we are still in a situation whereby a man who may be convicted and send to jail within the foreseeable future, is wanted by so many to be their leader.
The second, even more serious worry is the fact that give or take a few seats, the new Knesset will include in its ranks almost twenty percent of fanatic religious people (divided over three different parties), willing to enforce Halachic rule on Israel and as a minimum to tighten religious restrictions to unprecedented levels. These parliamentarians, who have called on Israelis to treat any family member who marries a non-Jew to be considered as dead; who look at homosexuality as a disease that must be eradicated, and who consider anyone that is non-Jewish, or even not Orthodox Jewish as inferior, will be able to extract unprecedented demands from whoever will form the new government, be it Netanyahu, Sa’ar, or anyone else.
But by far the worst part of course is the fact that the party that calls itself “Religious Zionism”, one of these three religious parties that will be in the new Knesset, is not only religiously fanatic. With its leaders, Smotrich, Ben Gvir and Maoz, explicit racist and fascist elements will take hold in Israeli politics. These “leaders” will now have the opportunity to spew their gall in the Israeli parliament, and from there it is bound to spread. Racism in Israel already is rampant and Fascism has been on the verge of erupting, and now this will only get worse, and maybe much worse.
The philosopher George Santayana famously said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And while Israel has made every effort possible not to forget, or make anyone forget the past of the Jewish people, apparently Israel is still condemned to repeat it.
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
If you register on the site, you will be receiving a notice when new articles are posted.
