T. Belman. Netanyahu will have to decide to take his chances on Bennett not succeeding, in which event we will be into a fifth election (polls say no change) or to resign and let the right wing form a government under a different leader.
I think Bennett’s chances are pretty good. He needs a religious party or an Arab party to form a government.
Yamina leader says ‘change bloc’ government will not be any more left-wing than coalitions Netanyahu set up with Barak, Livni; concedes it will not annex West Bank areas
23 April 2021, 9:36 pm
Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett at a press conference in the Knesset, in Jerusalem on April 21, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett said Friday that he was involved in intensive efforts and countless meetings to set up a national unity government, and had been working on this since coming to the conclusion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has no intention” of making the necessary compromises to establish a right-wing government. He said he was by no means certain that the efforts would actually bear fruit.
Bennett, who has repeatedly said he prefers a right-wing government led by Netanyahu, wrote in a Facebook post that he was focusing his efforts on setting up a government with the so-called “change bloc” of parties that oppose Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has repeatedly tried to tarnish the diverse group of parties as radical leftists, but Bennett wrote that any government that would be established would be no further left than previous Netanyahu governments.
“A national unity government won’t fulfill all my dreams, but it won’t be less right-wing than governments Netanayhu formed with Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni or Avi Nissenkorn,” he wrote.
However, he conceded that a unity government would not achieve his long-held goals of annexing parts of the West Bank or carrying out judicial reforms. “But it won’t give up land either,” he said.
Bennett said it was still not clear if they would manage to forge a government that would include the right-wing Yamina, New Hope and Yisrael Beytenu, the centrist Yesh Atid and Blue and White, and the left-wing Labor and Meretz. It would also need outside support from at least one Arab party or one of the ultra-Orthodox parties.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman (L) talks with then-Blue and White No. 2 Yair Lapid in the cafeteria of the Knesset on October 3, 2019. (Raoul Wootliff/Times of Israel)
Bennett said he would only agree to such a government if he received assurances and veto power over key issues and specific ministries. But he said there were enough common areas for such a government to work on.
Channel 12 news reported Friday that the parties were at an advanced stage of agreeing on the foundations of the government, including dividing up key portfolios.
The report said Bennett would be prime minister, Lapid foreign minister, Liberman would get finance and Sa’ar would be defense minister, but stressed that discussions were not final.
Channel 13, meanwhile reported that Blue and White’s Benny Gantz would retain the defense ministry and Sa’ar would take the justice portfolio.
Bennett, in his post, also accused Netanyahu of being unwilling to make key concessions to set up a preferred right-wing government.
He said Netanyahu could have pressured far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich to accept a government based on the outside support of the Islamist Ra’am party, though he conceded that option was “unpalatable.”
He also said if a right-wing government was so important to Netanyahu he could step aside and let someone else on the right or in Likud form the government, which would bring in Likud-breakaway Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party.
Channel 13 reported that there were actually discussions within Netanyahu’s inner circle to propose that Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz could serve as prime minister for 12-18 months, with Netanyahu serving as an alternate prime minister.
The report said Steinitz was considered statesmanlike and not a threat to other Likud leaders.
But Bennett said Netanyahu was bent on taking Israel to “a 5th, 6th and 7th election.”
Likud responded to Bennett by again trying to paint the “change bloc” as left wing.
“A coalition built on 50 seats made up of the left, far-left and the Joint List is not a national unity government, but a left-wing government with a very small right-wing fig leaf.”
It said if Bennett really wanted a right-wing government he would spend his time working to convince Sa’ar to join or support Netanyahu’s call for a new election to directly elect the prime minister.
Netanyahu’s long-shot bid to hold direct elections for prime minister without a fresh vote for parliament currently lacks sufficient support and would first require amending one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws — necessitating the very parliamentary majority eluding Netanyahu. It would also likely face a formidable legal challenge in the High Court of Justice, as it would entail sweeping legislative reforms by a caretaker government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a press conference at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on April 21, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
If Netanyahu fails to form a government by May 4, President Reuven Rivlin will need to either task a second candidate with doing so or send the mandate back to the Knesset to directly choose a lawmaker to do the job.
Should neither bloc establish a government, Israel would head to what would be its fifth election within three years.
The reports on agreements being reached in the “change bloc” come a day after reports that they have reached understandings on numerous issues, including on religion and state.
Bennett and Lapid, along with Liberman’s right-wing secularist Yisrael Beytenu party, agreed that a government they form should adopt the position of the liberal Orthodox Tzohar rabbinic group on religious matters, such as allowing municipal rabbis to perform conversions and ending the state rabbinate’s monopoly on kosher certification, according to Channel 12.
The unsourced report noted the effort to reach an agreement on religious issues could diffuse divides between the disparate factions that would make up the coalition, ranging from the right-wing Yamina to the left-wing Meretz.
Such understandings would likely face fierce opposition from the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, key members of Netanyahu’s anti-religious bloc.
A separate television report Thursday said Liberman was insisting that the Haredi factions not be able to join the new government for 18 months, though other party leaders in the anti-Netanyahu bloc were seeking to convince him to drop the demand.
If Shas and United Torah Judaism were to join, Channel 13 news quoted a source in the “change bloc” saying this would happen at the formation of the coalition. The network said that if they do in fact team up with Netanyahu’s rivals, the ultra-Orthodox parties will be given ministerial posts designated for the bloc’s right-wing factions.
Responding to the report, Yamina said Bennett would “not accept a boycott of the ultra-Orthodox during the formation of the government.”
“Bennett will not boycott the ultra-Orthodox or their representatives, nor any group in Israel. Any government in which we participate will take care of all Israeli citizens, and will not negatively label any population group,” a spokesperson for the party said Friday.
Liberman was previously a senior governing partner of Netanyahu’s, but the two fell out after the April 2019 elections over Yisrael Beytenu stipulating their joining a coalition would be on conditions rejected by the ultra-Orthodox — helping trigger Israel’s two-year-long political impasse.
Haredi parties have long reviled opposition leader Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party, which has touted secularist policies and opposed ongoing ultra-Orthodox control on many levers of power. However, UTJ leader MK Moshe Gafni recently signaled his party may be less resolutely opposed to Lapid than before with Netanyahu lacking any clear path to reaching a ruling majority following the March 23 elections, the fourth in two years.
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Netanyahu acknowledged some time later – early 2000’s – that he regretted his actions at Hebron. But it can be seen, thru the debacle at Hebron, a great lesson was learned by many, but the burden of such political lessons thru the process of trial and error by a young leader, as Netanyahu was at this time, is always paid for with the lives and hardships of others. Netanyahu learned to deal with the Americans in both direct and indirect discussion and negotiations with the people of America – a tactic he developed during the first Iraq war. It was this method that he used to stop ratification of the JPOA – Obama’s plan to secretly support Iran’s obtaining nuclear capabilities and thus allow the possibility of a future US president rescinding it as Trump did. This was an unparalleled event showcasing the level of adeptness and savvy statecraft that Netanyahu has developed over these 25yrs – not something easily developed or learned. And so now, here we are some 25yrs later. Israel has no govt, pretty much going on 16mos. Iran and her influence is rising while the new occupiers of authority openly move to support this rise against Israel. We are faced with a young politician, Naftali Bennett, intelligent, ambitious and ruthless, not unlike the younger Netanyahu. He aims to undermine his previous party leader, seize control and become PM, not unlike the younger Netanyahu. We stand upon a momentous task in facing down Obama’s 3rd term and his antisemitic acolytes.
I would ask you, would you want a man to face our approaching dilemma and its hardships and dilemma we face as his first task of office as the young Netanyahu faced while dealing with Hebron? (Then choose Bennett.)
Or should we rely upon an accomplished statesmen who has faced the pressures and invented counter measures that really can’t be passed between leaders as if it were a baton passing between relay runners. (Then choose Netanyahu.)
Anyway, just some thoughts that I thought might be relevant.
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@ Edgar G.:
@ Reader:
So I see I missed the conversation between you two last night. Sorry to jump in late and scroll back but something has occurred to be regarding your exchange over Hebron. Hebron. As a strong supporter of Netanyahu, I see the subject of Hebron as a complicated issue with many lessons for all. It has elements about it that can lead to considerable historical and character inputs. And these inputs are not entirely supportive or dismissive of Netanyahu, his actions and his abilities because, as in all things, context matters and the consequences of these contexts combined with the many surrounding reactions is how history unfolds.
I found his actions at Hebron to be a glaring mark against Netanyahu and it took many, many years for me to understand his actions as I do today – in the proper context. It was many years ago and we were all much younger. But Netanyahu was not just younger, he was a much less adroit leader than he is today. Netanyahu did not spring from the womb plotting an adversary’s downfall and designing artful plans of statecraft. His was a path, as I have noted previously, that was unique and remains uniquely his own. But this path, marked by undermining of his party leader and succumbing to foreign pressures, was the caldron in which the steel of his nature was foundered. Hebron was part of this path and, while it was particularly damaging, I believe a great deal was learnt by him and the country. This younger Netanyahu, though adept enough to become PM, had yet to personally face the pressure and intense manipulations from the Americans and their obsession with peace regardless of how many Jewish concessions paved their way or how much Jewish blood soaked their path. Netanyahu did have a front row seat in the manipulation and devious tactics used against his mentor, Yitzhak Shamir, at the ill-fated Madrid Conference. But not all lessons can be taught as from the tutelage of a mentor to student – some lessons, usually those which are the most compelling and simultaneously difficult, may only be earned from the struggles of experience – and such triumphs of experience are only held by elder statesmen as they are yet to be developed in their younger counterparts. I will always believe that Shamir could have been successful in dealing with the issues of the Hebron Agreement while Netanyahu was not. But by then, Shamir had been thru his own caldron and was formed to be the exemplary statesmen that he was.
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@ Sebastien Zorn:
No. He would need a majority of votes, even if this majority is less than 60 – i.e. the plurality is opposed by a lesser number, such as 58-55, which is, of course a minority gov’t.
@ Edgar G.:
Would he then be able to pick his own cabinet at will?
An interesting speculation is, that if Rivlin sends the choice to the Knesset, and although there would not be a cnadidate with 61 seats,the plurality would be gained by Netanyahu…
@ stevenl:
Well, Israelis have no stomach for it, now, but I still think this is the only practical short-term solution I have read, apart from the international ramifications. But, if it can’t be implemented, I don’t see what can be done. Even incentivization to leave can’t happen as long as the PLO and Hamas are in charge. They will kill anybody who does that. They have. https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/time-annex-judea-and-samaria-steven-plaut/
@ Edgar G.:
READER, this should make you happy. I just found a reference that Netanyahu is worth $14 mill, another whch says he earled very large speaking fees. Also that Sara is worth from $1-5 mill.
The disappointing info is that, with a bit more research I was able to ascertain the these figures are decided by an “algorithm” and have no real basis in fact. Very much like the way Biden’s votes were “counted”…..
@ Reader:
Now everyone knows how dim you are. That 11 mill has been there for years. I can also produce his wealth estimates of $100.000-1 mill. Just as many as the mysterious 11 mill. And on the samw Wiki page that you got your “info” from.
His wfe fomes from a moneyed family, alsohis lae father was a famous author and ardent Zionist.
So again, you are always looking in the dewers for anything which will discredit what someone else has written. Do you ever agree with anyone…If you do, thenI want to celebrate with a glass of champagne….and cigars.
Has it ever occurred to you that most of those fabled cigars and champagne were mostly consumed by Netanyahu’s important visitors and heads of State, and their large staffs.
Or do you suspect him of selling them black-market from the back door. I suppose YOU would, no one else would.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Thanks for the great info.
This shows that the situation is a lot more complex than “Netanyahu convinced Putin to support Israel/Netanyahu did not convince Putin to support Israel (the idea of a journalist having some influence at the very top is almost funny).
Here is what I am convinced of:
1) countries don’t have friends, they form temporary alliances based on their short term interests and long term policies.
If you look at the recent history of Israel, the countries who supported it did so usually to spite some other country.
2) there is no country in the world which supports the existence of Israel as a sovereign Jewish country living in peace with its neighbors.
The reason for this is that if Israel finally exists peacefully in its Biblical borders and the world’s Jewry streams into these borders – whose prophecies will have come true and what will it mean for (at least) Christianity and Islam (this is a huge threat to them)?
3) The US has long term policies, and a particular president has no influence on them.
The only difference is in the way these policies are promoted depending on the current situation, i.e., in case of Israel – either a direct push for a two-state solution or the US “permission” to apply fake sovereignty on 30% of Judea and Samaria with the rest reserved for the “Palestinian” state (the unspoken assumption), etc., etc.
4) The way the British and American politicians (the most experienced ones in the world) function:
they create situations which lead to desired results.
They treat geopolitics like a game of sports or a game of chess.
The main technique they employ is divide-and-rule.
This prevents a revolution at home and an attack by an enemy from overseas, and permits them to install themselves as impartial arbiters in a fight that they themselves provoked.
Time for “extremists” to give up on extreme positions.
@ Reader:
Well, I googled, “UNSC 2334,” without quotes, in an attempt to find independent corroboration and I found this.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/did-putin-save-israel-from-obama-at-un-and-why-are-we-hearing-this-now-631813
@ Reader:
I don’t think you like Bibi. I’m just taking a wild guess, of course.
@ Edgar G.:
Netanyahu is even more capable than you think.
For a paltry $50,000 a year take home pay he has managed to save lots of money!
(emphasis mine)
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/presidents/benjamin-netanyahu-net-worth/
BTW, how little do they have to pay a politician for him to justify not doing his job?
@ Reader:
No he’s not, he soaks up pressure like a sponge and does what his xenses tell him. He is both a top strategist and tactician, (like Hannibal.) You are asking hypotheticals that have no answers because they haven’t yet happened. Any silly ones at that.
Too much “What if”. Reader you always want to have the last word, please leave it alone.
We don’t know Netanyahu’s motives. If we could see tham he wouldn’t have been much of a PM becuase nobody in the International scene knows what’s in his mind. We DO know one thing, and that is that for a paltry $50,000 a year take home pay, he has valiently saved Israel time and time again, whilst making it a World Power and a top “R&D” country. It is No. 1 in so many things, achieved during the PMs tenure.
He is a dedicated son of Israel, and comes from a family of very prominent, fervent Zionists. Any country would be lucky to have him, and Israel has him.
And all his achievements have been made with the concocted charges and . conspiracies againt him. A true Superman in political terms. And you just gripe and grouse….. You should shut up the mouth and open the eyes and ears……
Although I don’t think that even Hillel, if he lived today, could ever satisfy you, without you finding some drudge or grievance.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I both missed it and I don’t believe it because
@ Edgar G.:
If enormous pressure is a good excuse, what if an Israeli Prime Minister is put under so much pressure that he officially dismantles the state and tells all the Israelis to go back to Europe, or North Africa, or wherever (where they don’t want them), and to clear the premises, so to speak, within one month?
Is that OK too?
Note that Netanyahu is now under more pressure than he has ever been (sort of like Sharon before the disengagement).
Arutz Sheva reported late last night that Bib offered a rotation to Ganz in which Ganz would serve as PM for first and last year.
Why doesn’t he offer the same deal to Sa’ar?
@ Reader:
https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/06/15/how-russia-saved-israel-from-a-palestinian-state-based-on-the-48-borders/
Did you miss this story or do you not believe it?
@ Sebastien Zorn:
How do you know that he got Putin to make Obama do anything?
This seems to me like the stuff of fairy tales.
I am very skeptical about the Abraham Accords.
This is one of those things that look too good to be true, and are likely to be just a maneuver by the Arabs to get advanced weapons from the US.
They also serve to tie Israel’s hands – during the latest riots in Jerusalem the Accords were already brought up.
You cannot ascribe your own motives to others, especially when those others consider the mere existence of an infidel state in their midst as a grievous insult, unlike the Jews who want peace at just about any cost.
As to the rest of it – one person simply could not have accomplished things that you think Netanyahu did uniquely and all by himself.
Anyway, even to the staunchest members of his cult it should be obvious by now that his behavior is neither ethical, nor in the interests of the country.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
The few seats, and that he didn’t even make the minimum a year or so ago, shows what little influence he really has, in Israel, his home country. All talk and no results-except to shatter the right wing, over getting at Netanyahu. Bennett will be remembered not fondly by the people in future years, after they suffer the results of his treachery..
@ Reader:
Hebron was th best of a much worse situation. As for the different EU area building, you don’t know and I don’t know what enormous pressures he must be under,. For instance what if the EU is threatening to boycott all Israeli products. And Netnyahu knows that time is on the side of Israel, which is making more and more other allies, and becoming stronger all the time.
We don’t know what reasoning is behind his decisions-or seeming lack of decisions. He can clear out all the Arab/EU buildings with a few bulldozers, and an IDF company at any time in a very few days or weeks. It’s all easily reversable. But major economic or other decisions are not so easily arrived at nor avoided. So far he has kept Israel safe and sound.
Who are we to question what he says or does, we are really “know-nothings”..
@ Reader:
But, he got Putin to block Obama from getting a UN Security Council Resolution demanding statehood for the Pals, did he not? And let’s not forget the Abraham Accords and the many little victories against Iran without outright war. He turned Israel into a major player on the world stage. I’m sorry but Bennett doesn’t inspire trust. Look at how few seats he has.
@ Edgar G.:
You mean he didn’t give away Hebron?
He actually made sure there were enough votes for the measure.
He stalled the Jewish settlement.
He permitted the Arabs to build in Area C with the EU financing.
He agreed to a “demilitarized” (what a joke!) “Palestinian” state in principle, and based on his “sovereignty” idea, that state was going to occupy 70% of Judea and Samaria.
I don’t know about you but to me it’s quite enough (even not counting the fact that he will do absolutely anything to get himself out of the legal troubles he is in), no matter how magical his baritone, or how good his English, or how enchanting his speeches, or how clever his political maneuvers “against his enemies”.
@ Reader:
In the meantime ,you don’t seem to have noticed that none of the Highlighted items has really happened….so far. What did happen did not occur when Netanyahu was in charge but Sharon etc. And he had started a new party. With Lapid and Bennett, that are traitors to Zionism, they very well could,forced by the EU and US. Do you think that either of those poor politically deranged shnooks could prevent it…? They wouldn;’t know how. And even if they did -a poor chance- ..Aal teir energies are being put into defeating Netanyahu..They are blind to the catastrophe looming from the Obama Biden mamzerim.
@ Bear Klein:
Yes Bear, I see you are correct about his statement during the election. But if it is to be between Barkat and Bennett, I would go with Barkat. But I would go with Netanyahu before either, though I see this as very unlikely. Thanks for the correction.
BIBI
Wow!
I had no idea that he promised THAT!
Now we know why he kept freezing the settlement construction.
You can’t accuse him of never keeping his word!
Could it be that Bennett is moving to create a center-left government as a means to force Bibi to resign.
I hope that that is his strategy.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I don’t know, I think it did because the Arabs have been building in area C with financing from the EU.
Anyway, bluffing with the pieces of the territory of your very tiny homeland is kind of dangerous, don’t you think?
Here is another one:
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Bennett-Likud-gave-away-Hebron-brought-Gaza-disengagement-and-supported-Palestinian-state-391442
And, BTW, Jerusalem has remained as divided as ever.
I mean, you can describe all of the above as just those cute and clever little tricks by the expert politician but one kind of wishes that he played those tricks with his own life and property and not with the fate of the whole Jewish State,
@ peloni1986:
Actually Bennett said he would NOT guarantee that he would support Netenyahu but said he was open to it. He also openly said he interested in being Prime Minister.
So how many time has Bibi formed coalitions with leftists? Barak for one? He had Lapid in his coalition another time.
I think Bennett and Nir Barkat are the two most capable politicians Israel has who need to replace Bibi who is no longer a positive influence in many ways. Israel needs a stable government and he is now incapable of providing that.
@ Edgar G.:
Yes, you may be right in this. I always accepted the tabloid talk that claimed that it was an issue with Sara Netanyahu that undermined these relationships, but it might just be that Netanyahu knew them better and that they put on a good public face. I still can’t believe Bennett. Such a liar, never would have believed it.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Actually Bibi never agreed to Pals anything but gave his Bar Illan speech which layout peace parameters for creating a Pal Entity which had conditions in it that the Pals would never agree to but also not agreeable to the Israeli right.
Some of it ended in Trump’s plan.
Here is critical part of speech with link to full speech.
https://www.jpost.com/israel/full-text-of-binyamin-netanyahus-bar-ilan-speech
@ Bear Klein:
If this is the basis of Bennett’s betrayal, it is another weak tea truth. Bennett’s motivation, whatever it is, has led him to betray his promise not to some other politician, which in all honesty is what politicians do best, but to the very electorate that has sent him to Knesset to support Netanyahu on the very eve of having been elected to do just that. He still claims he supports the idea of Netanyahu as PM, he just is acting in complete contrary fashion to his own dialogue. He knows he could support the direct elections and settle the matter without breaking this oath, but he chose instead to break his pledge to support Netanyahu while moving to support Leftists and Non-state supporters to gerrymander a non-Netanyahu solution to the political situation which coincidentally gains him his political elevation. I understand that you support him in what he does here, but it has nothing to do with the lies that Netanyahu has made over these many years. It is a fair observation to recall Netanyahu’s many lies to his colleagues as fact, but it is a poor substitute for the motivations that move Dear Naftali in this matter.
@ Reader:
But, did it actually happen? Wasn’t it a bluff to stop Obama? Didn’t Bibi use Putin to block Obama in the UN later on? Would anyone else have thought of that?
Bibi, has now offered Gantz to go first in rotation to form a government. Really funny since that is why there were elections is because according to the previous coalition agreements Gantz was next supposed to become the Prime Minister.
When commentator’s are making Bennett the villian for trying to form a government I believe they are missing the real culprit, which is that Bibi has lied to so many people that they simply do not trust him enough to work with him.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
If such a thing were to occur G-D Forbid, the PM would, of course make sure, with his own legal team, that is was all cast iron bound and irrevocable , and impervious to any legal challenges.
This is, naturally, just my opinion.
The Edit took 10 secs to appear this time. Getting slower and slower. I also logged out and then logged in that last time I had no Edit for a few weeks. Then got the idea to do that.It worked.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Another moment of truth from 2013:
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/netanyahu-gesture-to-obama-territory-giveaway-to-palestinians/2013/03/05
@ Edgar G.:
Would Bibi be able to trust his word? Bibi would have to be crazy to resign.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
It was bruited right at the beginning, before the failed elections by Mandelblit that he would drop all charges if Netanyahu left politics. (or maybe, resigned)
And I’ve mentioned this same, a few times as lately as a few days ago and a couple of weeks ago.
@ peloni1986:
When Livni and Barak were in govt with Netanyahu, they were not able to move an inch without his oversight. Hebrought them in for tactical reasons, to show his width of coalition, and gave Barak the Defence Ministry, which Netanyhu have bene successfully handling, so he kept a good eye on him, also Livni was allowed to become enmeshed un the most useless “negotiations” with Arafat, that everyone -except her- knew were going nowhere. But ut kept her occupied and powerless.
So there is NO comparison between that tiem and what Bennett is trying to sell today.
And he KNOWS this very well, so on top of other misdeeds he is a damned liar.
I posted about this jest a few days ago, as soon as I saw Bennett’s lying comparison.
And to compare Barak and Livni with Lapid, Bennett, Sa’ar and the Arabs, plus Meretz….Pooh….!!
@ peloni1986:
The slights to Bennett and Shaked may have had a good reason for happening. Netanyahu doesn’t blazon his reasons or intentions all around the outlets. No statesman ever discloses his real thoughts, and we know positively that Netanyahu can play “4 dimensional chess”, with his special mentality, which has saved Israel time and again.
I don’t think it’s possible to put together a large enough coalition of parties that will work together. Bibi will never resign. Another election is inevitable.
https://www.newsweek.com/israeli-nevernetanyahu-rights-moment-truth-opinion-1580222
@ Ted Belman:
Can he avoid prison if he resigns?
@ Edgar G.:
Yes, so much so, that I completely refused to even contemplate the possibility that it might come to be. But it does seem this is were we will soon be, unless something unforeseen should occur. Politics is a terrible trade. Bennett’s aim here is to unseat Netanyahu and that is all. Should his goals in this be successful, the shade of calamity cast by such an achievement will be interminable. I am greatly shocked by the role that Bennett has played here. Clearly, his character was not as I had judged it to be. I guess the many slights shown to he and Shaked will soon be repaid to the detriment of the state. Be they successful in anything or nothing in this matter, their willing actions and open betrayals will not soon be forgotten and the electorate should repay this treachery with a long recollection of their deeds here. They should have gone to direct elections. This will in all likely lead to a great victory for Obama and his third term to finally be rid of his nemesis who faced him and defeated him so – the rock of Gibraltar finally out of the way, as it were. It is a great misfortune. Very great.
@ Edgar G.:
If Bennett is successful, the Haredi faction may HAVE to go with him, to protect their Yeshivas, even most unwillingly. This single factor will destroy the whole Israeli political tapestry for the next 20 years, even when the Right regain govt.
It’s hard to visualise Netanyahu voluntarily resigning, rather announcing that he is leaving politics completely,, possibly as a tactical move.
I still recall how Mandelblit offered to drop ALL charges if Netanyahu left poltics….No one else seems to have paid this any importance. It makes Bennett a tool of the Oligarchs and the Legal fraternity.
@ peloni1986:
That may be, but Bennett has turned out to have become a complete traitor to his Right WIng lifetime convictions.. All to satisfy his jealous greed to become PM. Netanyahu is correct, a huge Left Wing with a tiny Right Wing at the tip (not top). How long will it be before they begin to jockey for pre-emnence. Wlll Lapid, wth 19 seats, not try to oust Bennet, with 7 seats.
It seems to have been overlooked that Bennett now says that his proposed govt will not now declare Soveregnty over YESHA, which was a key point in his manifesto of “promises”. All to satisfy a hate-greed-ambition.
And what will Lapid -who never completed High School-, have, to say say to World Leaders, expecially the US, which wants the 2 State Pollution to be pushed on quickly, with the Heights given over to the PA…About when do you think, internttent shelling of Ben Gurion Airport would begin.
The tip of the iceberg if Netanyahu is deposed….???
@ Ted Belman:
Ahh, yes. Now I see your point. I have noticed that you and Bear Klein have both stated that Netanyahu would resign, but I have had it fixed in my own mind that he would never do this, as this is the judgement I have of him. But, of course, I am wrong in this. Now, as you point it out, I realize the error in my rigid opinion. Of course he will resign – he won’t have a choice. Thanks for that.
Should this come to be, and I unfortunately believe it will, it will be a very great loss.
If Netanyahu believes Bennett’s chances of success are good, Netanyahu will resign rather than go into the opposition.
Put another way, if Netanyahu is headed for the opposition, he will avoid it by resigning.
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Furthermore, it is a betrayal of his own dreams and aspirations in setting aside even the possibility of pursuing annexation and judicial reform while simultaneously promoting his own ascension to power. But in so abandoning his previously stated political goals towards an arranged scheme of political expediency he has decidedly moved left and any claims of doing so out of duress are quite fantastic. This choice to deny himself of “fulfull[ing] all my dreams” is a self-evoking power play in which he denies the electorate of its preferred choice of govt. He does this to place at the highest position of power in the state, a man who would betray his self professed “dreams” only to obtain the mantle of this power. It calls into question if a man would betray such pivotal political dreams only to seize this power – by moving this far Left – how much further Left might he move to perpetuate his hold on such power? What else might he sacrifice? And this is the champion chosen to battle the strong arm of Obama’s third term…please someone offer him some ice-cream, cigars and champagne so we can choose again before the state is completely undermined.
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And so here we go. Bennett is prepared to bring the nation, which chose to elect a vast right wing majority, the gift of a weakened unity gov’t, or, perhaps, even worse, a weakened minority-led unity gov’t . Bennett claims that his propose alliance with these Leftists is no further left than some gov’t’s that had been managed together in the past. For him to recognize the need to pull from Netanyahu’s past record in his own defense at such an early stage, clearly displays a certain sense of unease with his own plans. His stipulation of past alliances in this reference is a slight of hand which he employs to disguise the dangers of empowering leftists agenda of years past as no different than empowering leftist agendas of today. He should fool no one with this self serving contrivance. This is not the case. Not in Israel, not today, not anywhere. In this ruse he also ignores the level to which these leftists have been rejected by the electorate by its lurch to the right with each of these recurrent elections. He is hoping to cloak his current political scheme as a choice of necessity rather than a choice of opportunity. But the electorate in the past had not awarded the Knessett the overwhelming Right-wing majority from which to choose to form a gov’t. Instead, the coalitions that Netanyahu stitched together employing hard-leftists and moderate leftist groups alike was a measured necessity in recognition of the old adage that ‘needs must’ and a gov’t was not a choice but a necessity. And so, while stating that Netanyahu has formed gov’t’s with leftists in the past is true, Bennett’s use of this allegory as a measured justification to validate his opportunistic move to the Left is a clever invention, but invention none the less. Bennet could have pursued the direct elections of PM and his claimed preferred candidate of Netanyahu would easily have won and formed a strong right-wing gov’t., but he has unfortunately chosen otherwise. This move is not a necessity as it was in the past. It is a choice. It is a choice that Bennett made to aggrandize himself with power while allying himself with a panoply of leftists and possibly non-state supporters at the expense of diluting and, consequently, betraying the will of the electorate.
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