Blue and White finally see red over cynical Netanyahu
In years to come, political commentators and analysts will scratch their heads intensely while making what will most likely be a futile attempt to understand why Benny Gantz, currently the alternating Israeli prime minister, dragged his party into a coalition government that was stillborn — especially as it was a government that aimed to serve one thing and one thing only: Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to escape from his corruption trial.
We may never know the real reason behind Gantz’s decision to join the coalition, which was taken in cahoots with his chief partner in the Blue and White alliance, another former commander of the Israeli army, Gabi Ashkenazi. What Gantz and the less principled wing of the party did was nothing less than write their own political suicide note. If opinion polls are to be believed, that will be at the next election, although it may come sooner rather than later and probably before Gantz gets the chance to replace Netanyahu as prime minister as per the coalition agreement. Hence, in recent weeks Blue and White has been flexing its muscles within government and the Knesset, especially in opposing Netanyahu’s unrelenting efforts to bend the democratic processes to serve his personal legal needs. Increasingly, Blue and White is serving as a mini-opposition within the government. It is quite astonishing that it has taken Gantz and those who followed him into this government four months to discover what every novice political observer in Israel has known all along: That Netanyahu the defendant has given up on running the country or caring for it and its people. All he cares about is thwarting his trial.
Gradually, the realization that joining the government was a fatal mistake is filtering through to the leadership of Blue and White. At this point, all the party can do is limit the damage caused to itself and the country in backing Netanyahu, and it is probably damned if it leaves the government and even more damned if it remains. Hence, Blue and White can either take the honorable route and leave the government, bring it down and form a different one without Netanyahu, or it can open the way to fresh elections that will see it shrink to nearinsignificance while losing the prestigious defense and foreign ministries it currently holds. What Gantz and Ashkenazi are gradually and painfully digesting is that, come what may, Netanyahu has no intention of honoring the agreement to rotate the premiership. Consequently, they have been left empty-handed, with no power and no influence, still tainted by their association with a corrupt prime minister, as well as being part of a government that was first in the world to impose a second coronavirus disease lockdown. The country is also seeing rising unemployment and has a prime minister who is cynically exploiting the pandemic crisis to prevent street protests and is blocking a new budget bill for selfish political considerations.
It seems that, in supporting the legislation to outlaw mass demonstrations, the prime minister has made Blue and White see red. What was supposed to be an equal partnership has become a prolonged humiliation and marginalization. Blue and White may have done too little, too late to redeem itself in the eyes of Israeli voters, but it can still do the honorable and responsible thing and fall on its sword. This will offer hope that, after the next election, a government that is genuinely keen to address the rampaging, out-of-cont