By Steve Hendrix and Shira Rubin, WaPo May 31, 2021 at 9:08 p.m. GMT+3
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies worked furiously Monday to keep opposition parties from forming a government that would displace him from Israel’s top political job for the first time in more than 12 years.
Netanyahu backers slammed right-wing parties planning to join the broad-based coalition as “traitors,” picketed their homes and issued threats that led police to provide additional security to at least two of the targeted politicians.
The pressure came as members of the coalition finalized their agreement to form a power-sharing government that would include former Netanyahu allies, centrists and liberals, and even the indirect support of an Arab Islamist party. The arrangement, which could come up for a vote by the full parliament within the week, would potentially end more than two years of political stalemate in which no faction has been able to secure a governing majority after four inconclusive elections.
Negotiators for the anti-Netanyahu parties achieved a breakthrough Sunday when former defense minister and Netanyahu ally Naftali Bennett announced that he was joining the “change coalition” being assembled by former TV news anchor and centrist politician Yair Lapid. In exchange for his Yamina party’s 7 Knesset seats, Bennett would become Israel’s prime minister for a set number of years before Lapid takes over for a turn of his own, according to reports on the agreements in Israeli media.
his role as prime minister in a mixed government, he would be unlikely to translate those ideological views into official policy, analysts say.
Talks to finalize the deal, including the apportionment of ministries among more than half a dozen participating parties, went until 3 a.m. Monday, media reports said, and party leaders said they expected to present a formal proposal to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in the coming days.
Lapid’s mandate to form a government expires at midnight Wednesday, but he would have up to a week for the Knesset to vote on the coalition agreement.
Netanyahu reacted with outrage at Bennett’s move, accusing his former protege of committing “the fraud of the century” in televised remarks Sunday night. Netanyahu supporters branded Bennett and his fellow party leader Ayelet Shaked, a former justice minister, as betrayers of their right-wing voters, saying they would usher in a resurgence of Israel’s long-diminished left wing.
“Hearing Bennett’s words made every right-wing stomach churn,” commentator Mati Tuchfeld wrote in the right-wing, pro-Netanyahu newspaper Israel Hayom. “Every word in his speech was like a punch in the gut to the people who had believed him and had followed his lead.”
Small groups of protesters gathered at the two party leaders’ homes Sunday. Some carried signs reading “Treasonous leftists” in front of Shaked’s residence in Tel Aviv and Bennett’s in the central Israeli city of Raanana. In response, Knesset security officials and police arranged for them to be accompanied by an extra protective detail, according to Kan radio.
Lapid said he, Bennett, Shaked, Israel’s attorney general and several Israeli journalists who have been covering the political developments had all received death threats as a result of Netanyahu’s incitement.
“A country that is divided and violent won’t be able to deal with Iran or with the economy,” he said. “A leadership that incites us against one another harms our ability to deal with the challenges we face.”
“Political opponents from the left are not our enemies,” said Gideon Saar, another former Netanyahu ally and member of the change coalition. “There is an incitement machine that is running even before this government did anything, an incitement machine that has nothing to do with ideology, but only with anxiety about the loss of power.”
The campaign to pressure the more conservative politicians in the new coalition is likely to continue up until the last minute, according to political analysts. Netanyahu, who is standing trial on corruption charges in a Jerusalem court, is desperate to stay in office as a potential shield from his legal woes, they said.
While he has been unable to form a government of his own, derailing the opposition efforts would probably lead to a fifth election, buying him time, at the least. His best hope is making one of the right-wing coalition partners cave under the criticism.
“Knowing Netanyahu, he won’t give up until the fat lady sings,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a political commentator and former Netanyahu aide. “There is still a week. Netanyahu will keep up the pressure, particularly on Shaked.”
Many of Netanyahu’s fellow Likud members are pinning their hopes on the prime minister’s reputation as a political trickster, said Bushinsky, who has been in touch with several leaders of the party in recent days. They note that Netanyahu has staved off apparent defeat with bold moves in the past, including dissolving parliament in 2018 rather than let his rivals form a government.
“They hope he still has some tricks in his sleeve,” Bushinsky said. “It’s a combination of wishful thinking and precedent. He has done it before.”
Several complications could still cause the new coalition to collapse. If any of the parties back out, the razor-thin majority would be lost. Among them is the Blue and White party headed by Benny Gantz, who split with Lapid last year and joined forces with Netanyahu to address the coronavirus crisis.
Gantz told reporters Monday he “would do everything in my capacity to help” Bennett as prime minister. And he rejected claims by Netanyahu that the proposed government would lack the security experience to stand up to Hamas in Gaza, to Hezbollah in Lebanon and to Iran. He noted that half of the new security cabinet would consist of ministers who had served in the decision-making body previously.
“There has not been a security event in the last four decades that I was not part of,” said Gantz, who is expected to stay in his current role as defense minister.
The deal will also apparently depend on support from a small Islamist party, Ra’am, whose leader has not yet formally signed on to either vote for the coalition or abstain, either of which would allow the new government to form.
But so far, Netanyahu’s efforts to turn out mass resistance to the proposed government have failed to produce big crowds. The protesters have numbered in the dozens, not thousands, according to media reports.
“Usually, the right-wingers are more vocal; they are the ones that can block the streets. But he has failed to motivate them,” Bushinsky said. “There’s a lot of fatigue. We’ve been talking about politics for two and a half years now.”
Even some members of Likud have come to see Netanyahu as more of a liability than an asset and have encouraged him to step aside to allow Likud to regain its political capital, according to Israeli media. On Sunday, Likud politician and Netanyahu devotee Israel Katz said he had offered to replace Netanyahu as prime minister for one year, to have the chance to form a right-wing government. Netanyahu refused the offer, Katz said.
The possibility of a non-Netanyahu government has become real enough for Israelis to ponder how the change coalition would actually run the country, and whether such an ideologically mixed assemblage could survive.
If approved, it would be Israel’s second attempt to break the political impasse with a “unity” government of differing factions. The power-sharing deal brokered last year between Netanyahu and Gantz lasted only seven months and never managed to pass a budget before collapsing amid acrimony. Critics accused Netanyahu of facilitating its collapse to force another election, thereby keeping Gantz from taking his turn as prime minister.
This time, the parties, while politically mismatched, are unified by two overriding desires: to oust Netanyahu and to finally halt Israel’s nonstop election merry-go-round.
“One would expect an unstable government,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. “There’s no ideological cohesion. But there are factors that would contribute to keeping it together, mainly, that no members have an interest in going for another election.”
The political differences mean that the new government would likely stick to consensus issues, such as healing Israel’s post-covid economy, analysts said. Lawmakers would probably avoid major policy shifts on hot-button or unpopular issues, such as the expansion of settlements in the West Bank or the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians.
The defense and security apparatus would probably maintain the country’s posture toward Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“But while the unity government can try to deal with issues they agree on, at some point the conflict will come back,” Hazan said. “If there’s one thing the conflict teaches you, it’s that it will never go away and probably come at the worst possible time.”
Rubin reported from Tel Aviv.
@ peloni1986:
Smotrich does not buckle he is a bull in a china shop. That is his strength and his weakness.
@ peloni1986:
Yes, Bibi has many supporters still. However he lost 20% or 200,000 in the last election.
@ Bear Klein:
Yes, you are probably correct about the impotence of Likud stopping it at this point. They will try to garner chaos for this gov’t but as you say and I said previously, everyone in that gov’t will likely be out of the Knessett(Yamina and New Hope) or out of the gov’t(all the others) if the gov’t fails to be formed. This was my great concern about this project.
Also, I agree, too, that Likud will likely gain a great windfall from the implosion of Yamina and New Hope and possibly at the expense of others as well. But I believe the Right, overall, may suffer losses due to manner of Bibi’s removal. He is still very popular with many voters, while not popular with many of the party heads, and politics is a personal business.
Bibi has been looked to for a very long time as “the” leader, not just of the Right, but of the country. And in the last election, Likud carried 1/4 of all seats in Knessett. For him to be ousted by the Right when they held such a large margin while the left did nothing may, I suspect, not sit well with some of Bibi’s more ardent voters. It would be a mistake, of course, but as I say, politics is a personal business. Still, they had ~73 seats and they only needed 61 so it is likely a moot point. But, then, too, I am uncertain of Lieberman. Bibi will be gone, but will he sit with the Heredi parties? That would shave the margin down a bit.
I am happy that Smotrich was able to maintain a block on Abbas’ inclusion =in the gov’t with the Right. That was a lot of pressure for him to withstand, I was pleasantly surprised that he did not buckle. I saw polls showing the public would support such a move, but I still think it is best he should be shunned by all and definitely by the Right.
@ peloni1986:
Likud will try to harass and undercut Yamina MKs. One previously announced he would not be voting for the government. There is a second MK Orbach now. Bennett has been talking to him we will see what he will do.
Bibi talking to Mansour Abbas elevated his leverage with Lapid and Bennett in the negotiations. He did not get everything he wanted but he got a lot and I have a hard time believing any of the Raam people will not vote for the government to be formed but one MK has so threatened.
The other Arab party (Joint List) some of these MKs will either vote for the government or abstain. If that happens even if one or two MKs from the 61 of the coalition defect it will not matter in the formation of the government.
I am curious if the Likud will keep Bibi and not have Primaries. In my view they would better off getting a new Chairman and then when elections happen they will much better positioned to win a strong victory.
Ted, had mentioned Likud plans but at this point all they can do is react as events now are completely out of their control. In a week tops two Bibi will no longer be PM. Yamina and Saar’s party certainly do not want elections any time soon because their parties would be eviscerated. Their political future’s rely on the gamble they took to form a new government spanning the whole political spectrum.
Bibi can take credit for this because in the end his Machiavellian behavior made enemies of so people they ganged up on him and are the process of making him move back to Casarea.
@ Ted Belman:
I am wondering how this plays into Likuds plans?
Bennett and his new gov’t will have to hold together for 1-2 wks for the vote…. Could be an interesting honeymoon.
@ Ted Belman:
Just hear that also or they will at least abstain when the vote to confirm the government comes. It is possible that 2 of the 7 Yamina MKs will vote no or abstain. Also one of Raam’s MKs has threatened this.
@ Bear Klein:
Apparently a few MK’s from Joint List are going to support the new government.
Confirmed the Coalition Agreement signed by all Party heads involved. They showed this on Channel 12 now.
Israel TV reshet 12 says a person close Lapid says he has informed President that he has a coalition! Lapid says the things Bibi promised Abbas did not happen but there are many things that benefit the Arab public.
Watching and listening to what is going with the coalition negotiations leads to believe the following is likely to happen:
1. Perhaps the letter to the President is delivered by Lapid saying they have a coalition. Even if this happens the parties will continue to negotiate because the differences between some of these parties are probably not reconcilable.
2. Then a Knesset vote is required and some people will not vote for the coalition in either in Yamina or Raam or both. So the new government with Change Coalition will not happen.
3. In case I am wrong the government will not last long at all unless the Haredi parties enter within a few months. ONLY thing that can make it last two years is if they pass a two year budget in the first month or two of the coalition.
@ peloni1986:
What just was said on the TV news that Abbas raised his demands also because Bibi said you can join us and you will get all that want if you do NOT go with the Unity Government, in the 21 days following a failure of Lapid’s mandate.
People now believe a solution to Shaked’s demands will be found before midnight. However, no one really has a clue what Raam will do. I believe that Bibi might have promised Abbas the MOON and Negev but Smotrich would keep him form achieving it. Abbas is not stupid and would realize that. Plus Bibi would say anything now to stop from being bounced as PM. That does not mean he would follow through on his promises, as has been well documented.
@ Bear Klein:
This is very well received news, Thank you for sharing the insights of your associate yesterday. It was a very disturbing report, but I am much relieved of it lacking merit.
@ Bear Klein:
I live in US though I have connections in Israel. and I am also a guy.
@ Ted Belman:
I hope this turns out correct! It would be best for Israel. It boils down to if Bibi agrees to it.
@ peloni1986:
Yamina refuses coalition demands made by United Arab List
As part of coalition talks, United Arab List demands cancellation of law allowing improved enforcement of construction laws. Yamina refuses.
As I believed and subsequently my source reveled that Abbas wanted those things that the press said he was getting. IT WAS NOT agreed to. So it was political spin!
i wrote to a Likud insider this morning and asked why Bibi does not resign so that a rightwing government could be formed. He said in effect, “don’t worry, all’s well that ends well.”
So Bibi has a strategy which in his words augers well for the right.
I think that Birkat offers everyone a good out if the change block doesn’t succeed.
He is well liked and popular and competent. It would be good for Bibi too as a Birkat government would do its best to protect him. Bibi would not be able to serve as a Minister because Israeli law bars indicted citizens from being Ministers. But he could be designated a Special Envoy whose job it is to advance the Abrahamic Accords and good relations with the US, Eu, Russia and China. Perfect.
@ peloni1986:
Personal question since we interact here. In which country do you live and are you a guy or a gal (not clear by the name).
You are absolutely correct, Bear. Abbas should never have been included in any scenario by Bibi, Bennett or any Zionist. He is a shape shifting opportunist who deserves no support from any Jew with the sense of thought. Bibi was badly judged to bring him the gift of acceptability by Zionist forces, and once he did he also lifted Abbas’ credibility within the Arab street as a man who may be looked to for successful ventures.
I understand both Bibi and Bennett are both trying to utilize this crow to stabilize their own image of what is best for Israel, but that image should not include any Zionist support for the Muslim Brotherhood – and it should not because it can not. There is no bargain to be struck with these scions of Al-Bana who are the propagators of our many murdered brothers and sisters – their many victims. They were founded upon the blood of innocence with their butchery of Hebron, gave support for Hitler and the Holocaust, and they hope to soon look forward to the days they will fuel their own incinerators with our many dead.
These non-state supporters should have the support of civil law and the respect of decent men should they prove deserving of decency, but no more than this. They do not recognize us and we should not support them. Regardless of the reasonableness of their demands, their acceptance into the political debate is unacceptable while their inclusion in any political ruling body is an alliance with our own ruin.
Brainstorming Here:
Bennett & Lapid fail to get a coalition deal done.
President Herzog can still give the Knesset 21 days to form a government.
Likud drafts one of its NOT BIBI! Say Barkat (my favorite in Likud ) for discussion purposes. He would easily get a coalition passed which would include the Likud, Yamina, Religious Zionists, New Hope, UTJ, Shas (that is 65 votes) and possibly would also include Blue and White to take to over 70 votes.
The right-wing would be ecstatic. The country is majority right-wing! This would be as stable a coalition as would could make for Israel. All it takes is Bibi stepping aside for hopefully Nir Barkat.
I would love Bennett to Prime Minister. However I think having Mansour Abbas as part of this government is NOT TOLERABLE. The thinks he demands and as the last 11 day war showed he is closer to the enemy than a member of the government you can rely on upon.
So it looks like a fifth election.
Mansour Abbas also in the last few hours is demanding things that so far Lapid and Bennett are not agreeing to. This is in addition to the stablemate about the Judicial Committee which Shaked insists she sit on. The Labor leader currently has been promised this position and she and Lapid say this will not change.
So apparently two games of poker are going on until the last couple of hours on the deadline which is mid-night.
Some TV commentators speculated that Shaked does not want this government to come into existence so this is the way out.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Ireland has been doing this since before I was born.. It means that every yoter’s ballot counts for either his 1st, 2nd 3rd choice and so on.There are 160 seats and 39 electoral areas. Proportional Representation, STV= the Single Transferable Vote…
Some voters may give their 2nd and 3rd choices to a different party candidate.
@ peloni1986:
Don’t mention it.
I wrote to a Likud insider and asked why Bibi does resign so that a rightwing government could be formed. He said in effect, “don’t worry, all’s well that ends well.”
So Bibi has a strategy which in his words augers well for the right.
Shaked is not getting the position she demands on the Judicial Committee at the moment. She so far is NOT agreeing to become part of the Unity Government at this moment according to Israel TV.
At the moment the view it is more likely that there will fifth election than a unity government. But as they keep saying on Israeli TV it is not Over until it is Over.
continues at https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-tragedy-of-benjamin-netanyahu/
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Thanks Sebastien.
Raam may be in the coalition but not part of the government is my understanding.
@ peloni1986:
Just a couple of jurisdictions in California. . Had to google it. This is what I found.
And then it lists all of them. It’s a handful of jurisdictions in some states. It’s very new and experimental.
https://www.fairvote.org/where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Is that the system they use in CA?
Proportional representation also encourages marginal extremes. When New York City had proportional representation during World War II, it had two Communist City Councilmen and a Communist Representative to the House of Representatives.
@ dinastar578@gmail.com:
Wouldn’t ranked choice be more efficient? It’s the system that New York City will use for the first time, this month. Basically, it amounts to instant runoffs. Every voter will have the option of picking five candidates in order of preference for, in this case, Mayor, in the upcoming primaries. If any candidate on a given voter’s list fails to garner a majority, then his or her votes will go to the next candidate on that voter’s list until somebody has a majority. I agree. Proportional representation doesn’t work well, or in this case, at all.
The proportional vote system produces only fragmented results .Israel needs a voting system totally diverse : I suggest to change this system for a single ( yes only one opportunity to vote ) vote from the current Knesset for one of two candidates to the PM office . The two candidates must garner each at least 40 mandates of the current Knesset to be qualified as valid candidates . If not one candidate garners 40 mandates then the single turn majority electoral system ( exactly like Great-Britain ) will be applied to a new elections with local district votations ( each district should have 55,000/65,000 local voters registered : 6,600,000 voters / 120 districts ) . Also the election threshold for each candidate will be raised to 6,50 % of the district voters from the current 3,25% . Small , marginal, fractious candidates must be shed away .
@ adamdalgliesh:
Yes, and Arutz sheva is reporting of the first land-for-peace donation by our beloved and trustworthy guru Bennett in celebration of this new political force within the land of Israel – namely the portly Muslim Brotherhood! And they sealed the deal with the Bedouin Land Grab! But keep your eye on the redlines and ignore the Dentist behind the curtain!
And believe in the great Swami Bennett and lend him your Trust as he settles all the problems that the Tyrannical Tyrant Bibi was just too weak of a Right-winger to settle for the Jewish State.
The abomination that will be this gov’t is not yet formed and the concocted stew is already eking out rewards to all our enemies who are now to be our overlords of state. But we are to rest assured that none of these cedings to these newly vested Enemies-in-Power will include land (I guess the definition of land does not include the Bedouin Negev) or the Jewish Nature.
So with new definitions of land and the idea that we may keep our Jewish nature in a smaller closet, the plot about this Anyone-But-Bibi-Syndrome draws a more clearly defined image. And this obvious image to draw from this first move upon this board of Bennett’s making is too terrible to fathom and the consequences are too menacing to accept….
He should not do this!
@ adamdalgliesh:
Yes, and Arutz sheva is reporting of the first land-for-peace donation by our beloved and trustworthy guru Bennett in celebration of this new political force within the land of Israel – namely the portly Muslim Brotherhood! And they sealed the deal with the Bedouin Land Grab! But keep your eye on the redlines and ignore the Dentist behind the curtain! And believe in the great Swami Bennett and lend him your Trust as he settles all the problems that the Terranical Tyrant Bibi was just weak of a Right-winger to settle for the Jewish State.
“Interesting” that Raam is participating in the coalition negotiations, and may actually serve inside the government, not just giving support from outside. That will mean that Hamas will actually have a cabinet seat in the Israeli government!
The Jerusalem Post – Israel News CORONAVIRUS ISRAEL NEWS ISRAEL ELECTIONS WORLD NEWS MIDDLE EAST Login
Jerusalem Post Israel News Israeli Politics
Anti-Netanyahu party heads meet to form new Israeli coalition
Rivlin’s legal adviser rejects challenge to Bennett becoming prime minister.
By GIL HOFFMAN JUNE 1, 2021 14:15 Email Twitter Facebook fb-messenger
Would a government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid really be a potential leftist disaster? (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER)
Would a government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid really be a potential leftist disaster?
(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER)
The heads of Yesh Atid, Yamina, and New Hope are meeting at Ramat Gan’s Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel on Tuesday, in an effort to work out their remaining differences ahead of Wednesday night’s deadline for Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid to form a government.
Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked and MK Ze’ev Elkin from New Hope are also participating, as are representatives of Ra’am (United Arab List.)
Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party also sent its negotiating team.
A Yamina spokesman said negotiating teams worked all night on their plans for a unity government and made significant progress.
Lapid must tell President Reuven Rivlin that he can form a government by Wednesday night at 11:59 p.m. or the mandate will return to the Knesset and then any MK would be able to build a coalition with the support of 61 MKs. Once Lapid makes his declaration to Rivlin, there will be seven days to hold a vote of confidence in the Knesset.
Knesset speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) said he would only decide the timetable for the vote after Lapid visits Rivlin, but Likud sources said Levin would consult with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and they were very likely to decide to postpone the vote until the last day permitted by law in order to put more pressure on Yamina.
The Likud wrote the legal adviser of the President’s Residence, Udit Corinaldi-Sirkis, on Tuesday, questioning whether Yamina leader Naftali Bennett could be permitted to form a government during the mandate of Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
Latest articles from Jpost
Top Articles
Two Israelis, including soldier, stabbed in Jerusalem, terrorist killed
READ MORE
David Barnea appointed as new Mossad head, to replace Cohen next weekBlinken trip to Israel aimed at preventing aid to Gaza from reaching HamasFrench FM warns Israel on its way to apartheidIsrael seeks assurances that foreign aid won’t reach Hamas
Two Israelis, including soldier, stabbed in Jerusalem, terrorist killed
Two Israelis, including soldier, stabbed in Jerusalem, terrorist killed
Latest articles from Jpost
Top Articles
Two Israelis, including soldier, stabbed in Jerusalem, terrorist killed
READ MORE
HamasFrench FM warns Israel on its way to apartheidIsrael seeks assurances that foreign aid won’t reach Hamas
Two Israelis, including soldier, stabbed in Jerusalem, terrorist killed
Two Israelis, including soldier, stabbed in Jerusalem, terrorist killed
Corinaldi-Sirkis responded that by law, the Knesset member entrusted with forming a government can serve as alternate prime minister, as Lapid will.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman told participants at the Bar Association conference in Eilat on Tuesday afternoon that “I believe that with good will it is possible to conclude the negotiations and tell the president that the government can be formed.”
Liberman warned that due to the threats to Bennett and Shaked he sees “happening what everyone saw happen in the Capitol in Washington.”
Likud faction chairman Miki Zohar called Liberman’s statement a wild exaggeration.
“There won’t be anything like what happened at the Capitol,” he told the Knesset Channel. “We will respectfully go to the opposition.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Liberman mocked the Likud, noting that Netanyahu himself offered a rotation of three party leaders as prime minister on Sunday.
“This is either a joke or just shameful,” Liberman said.
The Likud also asked Corinaldi-Sirkis to require Lapid to tell the president the make-up of the coalition, whether it will be an alternating government, and who will serve as alternate prime minister. Corinaldi-Sirkis accepted that request.
The goal of the Likud was to clarify whether the Islamist Ra’am (United Arab List) Party of MK Mansour Abbas would officially be part of the coalition.
Sources in Ra’am said the question of whether Ra’am would support the government from inside or outside the coalition would be made by the party’s institutions and the Shura Council of the Southern Islamic Movement.
Copyright © 2021 Jpost Inc. All rights reserved • Terms of Use • Privacy Policy Designed by