Just when it appeared that Israeli politics couldn’t sink any lower, the people that are supposed to be our representatives set new records of public disgrace, stupidity and small-mindedness.
Two weeks into the attempts to set up a right-wing coalition, which needs the support of an Arab(!) party to be able to survive, Netanyahu seems to have lost all hope of being able to do so since his fascist partners from the Religious Zionist Party adamantly refuse to take part in a government that needs the votes of “terror supporters”. His pleas to Sa’ar and his New Hope party to renege on their election promise not to take part in a government headed by him, have fallen on deaf ears and unless Netanyahu will be able to lure some “defectors” into his fold, he will not be able to muster a 61-vote majority and he will not remain Prime Minister. So his mind, now more than ever focused on personal survival, has come up with a new scheme. One that is in direct conflict with existing laws, is populist by definition, and sadly enough, would give him the best possible chance of winning this time as well. He had one of his underlings, Shas chairman Arye Deri make a proposal for the direct election of a Prime Minister, having the Knesset pass emergency legislation (as a Basic Law), to make this legal and proceed with this within three months. The law would give the chosen Prime Minister, three months to form a coalition that would get the confidence of the Knesset. However, since the political situation would not be any different from what it is now, Netanyahu (who would most likely be chosen), will have three months to remain Prime Minister, in addition to the three months it will take to organize the elections, for a total of six months, instead of the four weeks he was given now. These six months may be used, not to form a coalition or take care of the urgent unattended State business that is piling up, but to pass laws that would prevent a Prime Minister from being put on trial, to appoint his puppets in critical places such as the Attorney General and to continue the fight against the “leftists”. Again, Netanyahu will not hesitate to place his personal interests before the interests of the State and make sure that the next Justice minister, who will be much more to his liking, (such as Amir Ohana), will postpone his on-going trial indefinitely or make it go away altogether.
In the meantime, Netanyahu’s cronies are actively paralyzing the Knesset, with Miki Zohar refusing to call a meeting of the Knesset Arrangements Committee of which he is chairman (by default) to prevent other committees from being set up, and in particular a new Knesset chairman being chosen. This utterly undemocratic behavior has resulted in a total neutralization of the Knesset, the legislative branch, responsible for oversight of government actions and de facto allowing Netanyahu to do as he pleases. And the judicial authorities, from the Attorney General and the Knesset Legal advisor down, remain silent and prefer not to get involved too openly, apparently waiting for the Supreme Court to be asked to rule on this.
One person seeing himself as the savior of this country from the incredible mess that has been created, is Naftali Bennet. While only receiving seven mandates, he has been able to maneuver himself into a position where his party may have the deciding vote on both sides, he has been mainly active by talking a lot and saying nothing. He has not committed himself to anything or anybody, accept to himself and he feels he is in a position to make the most outrageous demands and get away with it, while counting on the decency of others in the “Anti-Bibi” camp to give in to him for “the good of the Country”. And, while in his utterances he does make it clear what is expected of politicians (“there are those who enter the arena, strive to come up with solutions, face the difficult and unpleasant alternatives, and work for a solution. They are called leaders”), he behaves no different from Netanyahu and looks only at his own interests which at this point focus rather fanatically on becoming Prime Minister.
It does appear at this point that the outrageous, unprecedented attack on the democratic principle pushed forward by Netanyahu in the form of a fifth election (this time for Prime Minister) is not going to succeed and we may see Netanyahu having to admit defeat (again) and not be able to form a government, but the chances that the “anti-Bibi)” group will succeed are also slim at best. From the start, the chances of a group containing both two racist fascist parties like New Hope and Yamina as well as Meretz and an Arab party had very little chance of success, the only thing binding them together was the disgust with the Netanyahu reign. But with the Netanyahu era indeed fading, both Yamina and New Hope have come up with new demands that have to be met in order for them to join a coalition, in particular demands that Meretz will renege on the remarks of their chairman regarding the ICC investigation of Israel. A demand that Meretz will never be able to give in to, which is probably what both Sa’ar and Bennet, are aware of and intended to in order to be able to get out of their commitment to form an “anti-Bibi” coalition at all.
In short, while everybody keeps saying that they intend to avoid a fifth election at all cost, what they actually mean is that they are all looking for something they know the other will not be able to give but what they will be able to use to accuse the other of causing the country to be forced into another election, which by the way is most likely not going to bring a solution either.
A quick (and for “leftists” very undesirable) solution would have Netanyahu resign and vacate his position as the leader of the Likud party to some other Likudnik. This would very quickly result in a gathering of all the right-wing parties, including Yamina and New Hope, and they would be able to bring forward a coalition that is stable and would be able to govern. Of course it is very unlikely that Bennet would give up his dreams of Balfour street for another Likudnik, so chances of such a move yielding success are almost nihil while at the same time it is completely inconceivable that Netanyahu would step aside while his trial is gaining momentum.
At least Israel will be able to hold on to the title of being the “democracy” with the most frequent elections. Their irrelevance does not seem to bother anyone.
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