The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amid turmoil in politics, Israeli government holding
JERUSALEM — In another twist to a roller-coaster five days for Israeli politics, a key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided not to quit on Monday as had been expected, allowing the right-wing government to limp along and possibly avoid new elections.
Even in the best of times, Israeli politics is polarized and fractious but the events of the last few days have been particularly fraught and stormy.
Sparked by an intense bout of fighting with militants in Gaza last week and capped by a nail-biting ultimatum from Education Minister Naftali Bennett, it was still unclear if the government would survive even the next few days, let alone reach its full term a year from now.
Although Bennett retracted his demand to become defense minister, opposition parties were still planning to file a motion of no-confidence in the government on Wednesday. It was anyone’s guess if those once loyal to Netanyahu’s now-shrinking coalition would be able or even willing to fend off the move that could ultimately dissolve Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and lead the country to an early national election.
If he does make it through the next few weeks or even months, Netanyahu faces a serious challenge with a razor-thin majority of 61 seats out of a total of 120. His government will have a tough time passing controversial legislation and could even face political blackmail over more hard-line issues.
It was the surprise resignation last week of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman that set in motion the biggest coalition crisis Netanyahu has faced to date.
Hawkish Liberman cited his ongoing disagreements with the prime minister over how best to tackle the never-ending cycle of violence with Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza. He said he had pushed for wider military action to stem rocket fire, violent protests and incendiary kites and balloons that have caused havoc and destruction to communities in southern Israel for most of the past year.
But Netanyahu opted for a more nuanced approach to maintain the security situation while at the same time preventing the complete collapse of the humanitarian situation for the 2 million residents in Gaza, “held hostage” by Hamas.
Following last week’s flare-up, which was prompted by a botched Israeli operation into Gaza and resulted in militants firing more than 460 rockets and mortars into Israel and Israeli jets striking some 160 targets in the Palestinian enclave, Netanyahu was accused of capitulating to Hamas by accepting a ceasefire less than 48 hours after the fighting had begun.
Residents of southern Israel, a large portion of whom form Netanyahu’s base, have held daily protests over the failure to find a viable military or diplomatic solution to the tensions with Gaza.
In his much anticipated news conference Monday, ultranationalist minister Bennett focused on security. There had been speculation that Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, along with his deputy, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, would follow Liberman’s lead and resign from the government.
For days, Bennett asked to be given the now vacant defense portfolio, insisting he had the answers to Israel’s Gaza conundrum. If not appointed defense minister, he said boldly, his faction of eight Knesset Members would quit the government, causing it to collapse.
But by Monday he had dropped his political demands, saying he would stay on as education minister to “help you in the great mission of making Israel win again.”