Editor-in-chief: David Suissa
21 March, 2021
The final polls conducted before elections on Tuesday all suggested continued political deadlock, as neither the anti- nor the pro-Netanyahu blocs are expected to receive 61 seats in order to form a government, reports Cody Levine. So, should Israel prepare for a sixth election?
No one is ruling it out. Mr. Netanyahu’s party, Likud, is predicted to emerge as the largest party, with around 30 seats. But his allies may not win enough seats to give him a majority of 61.
The bloc of parties vowing to replace Netanyahu in next Tuesday’s election also don’t have a majority, according the polls by Channel 12 News and Channel 13 News, making the possiblity a fifth election cycle – after four ones in two years – more likely.
United Torah Judaism chairman MK Moshe Gafni said on Saturday night that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot form a government after the next election, his party will consider other options. Although his ultra-Orthodox party has loyally stuck by Netanyahu for the last 12 years, his comments indicate even UTJ’s fatigue with the ongoing election cycle.
The leaders of Yamina and Raam, one rightwing party, and another one Islamist party, are the two who did not clearly commit to one bloc or the other. These are the two leaders that could go either way, at least in theory. So, what will they do?
It is possible that Abbas will have the power to decide whether or not there will be a rightwing coalition. His dilemma should not be taken lightly: it is one thing to break a taboo and join a coalition in exchange for programs who benefit the voters who brought you to the Knesset. It is another thing to be an Arab MK with a few seats and decide for the whole of the State who will head its government.
Bennett: “We are not the problem, we are the solution. Because there are only two parties that can be tip the scales, us and Mansour Abbas (Raam). The meaning of a government with Abbas is a government that can not defend Israel’s security, or promote anything in settlement, because it will depend on it. I say most clearly: I am a right-wing man and a man of the Land of Israel. I will not crown a left-wing government”
The Minister of the Interior and chairman of the Shas party, Aryeh Deri, said that “there is no possibility of a government being formed other than a government headed by Netanyahu – and said that with Naftali Bennett and Gideon Saar on the Right has 70 seats. “If everyone knew his place and everyone would go together. With all due respect, the head of the big party in the camp is the prime minister.”
Though PM Netanyahu once tried to persuade the Knesset to grant him legal immunity, he now says that he would not use his power to dodge his trial in the future. And yet, many voters assume that the next coalition, if headed by him, will attempt to cancel the trial, and diminish the power of the legal system. Is that true?
Prime Minister Netanyahu insists in two television interviews that he flatly opposes a proposal to halt his trial on graft charges and again claims the charges against him are “fabricated” and will collapse.“I rule it out. It will not happen. Nobody stops a trial.”
All right-wing candidates – those for and against Netanyahu – are united around a common goal, and that is to amend the judicial system. I mean, correction is a gentle word. It is more like “complete overhaul.” There is a personal goal and a systemic goal. The personal is Netanyahu’s interest in eliminating his trial. The systemic is the classic interest of the right in restraining legal activism.
Democracy is indeed fighting for its soul, but the danger does not come from critics of the legal system, but rather from those whose blindness and interests lead them to issue free licenses to the legal system. Whoever insists to talk about the fact that even the graduates of the Faculty of Law are human beings, only helps the state. Yes, the judiciary, on all its wings, has to be under an examining eye.
This fourth round feels like a repetition of previous rounds, but there are a few novelties that merit our attention, from politically important developments such as the rise of the anti-Bibi right, to the more symbolic (and probable) entry of a Kahanist and a Reform rabbi to the next Knesset.
Something very dramatic is happening. Which is really largely the story of the election. The battle is fought for about 4-3 seats, 150-100 thousand people, who have two characteristics. They are clearly right-wingers – and they do not like Netanyahu so much. The level of their lack of affection for Netanyahu will determine how far they are willing to go to dethrone him.
Itamar Ben Gvir hails from a fringe of Israeli politics so extreme it was outlawed. A lawyer known for defending Jewish settlers accused of violence against Arabs, he has roots in the overtly racist Kach party, founded by radical American Rabbi Meir Kahane and banned by Israel decades ago. But now, Ben Gvir and thousands of new-generation Kahanists are on the verge of a political comeback.
The 47-year-old lawyer and father of three, Gilad Kariv is poised next week to become the first Reform movement rabbi to hold a seat in parliament, a political ascent that marks a key victory for religious pluralism in Israel and for the millions of American Jews who practice liberal streams of their religion.