Election failure

The country’s two largest political parties appear to have given up on negotiations, as the country careens toward a third election. To avert it, a deal would need to be reached by Wednesday night. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and the Knesset have already had months to form a coalition.

Netanyahu does not seem to mind another election, since he would stay in power throughout the buildup to it – and polls don’t show the Likud losing many, if any, seats in a third election.

Gantz, although he says the election is unnecessary, doesn’t seem to be working hard to put public pressure on the other parties to do something. He says another election would merely bring the country back to the existing mess it is in, and that “we need to avoid an election out of a real sense of responsibility.” He is making every effort, he says.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has to face corruption charges and problems within the Likud. He told the party’s central committee members that he doesn’t know if there will be another election. His challenger, Gideon Sa’ar, was interrupted by booing and shouting when he spoke. Sa’ar says the Likud is a lively and democratic party, but he does not appear to be gaining traction in the party to unseat Netanyahu if there is a primary.

The country is already slouching toward the election as though it were a fait accompli. The Likud and Blue and White have already decided that, if there are elections, they will be held on March 2. The overall impression, though, is that none of these parties truly care if the public is sentenced to another several months of uncertainty, and perhaps another year of uncertainty, since none of the leading parties seem to come up with the math to form a coalition or a unity government.

If Israel were in a peaceful region without any mounting economic or security challenges, it could have another election and shrug it off. But increasing the chaos at the top makes the nation appear unstable at a time it can least afford it. The Iranian threat grows by the day, and Israel needs clear leadership as the US heads into a 2020 election and the UK heads toward Brexit. This is an important moment in world affairs, with a rising China, India and Russia.

It is a time when Israel needs the best and the brightest in leadership. Instead, it has an increasingly isolated prime minister who has claimed there is a legal conspiracy out to unseat him, stoking anger on the Right that a “coup” is taking place. This is the kind of talk that is undermining the vibrant democracy that Israel is built on. Unfortunately, politicians seem to be out for their own egos more than for the country.

Foreign countries are watching, with numerous diplomats expressing surprise and concern that the country still does not have a government. Our reputation is being slowly besmirched.

This has serious long-term ramifications. Budgets are tight, and there has been no real planning this year because of the chaos in the Knesset. That means even the Central Elections Committee has budgetary issues to oversee another election. In Jerusalem, none of the politicians seem to take into account what they are plunging the country into. There is no budget for next year, because it hasn’t been passed in the Knesset, so numerous parts of the government will revert to their 2019 monthly allocations, according to reports, leaving parts of the government gutted or uncertain.

This is a shame for the weakest populations, which require top-level planning and support. The looming budget problem has been portrayed as both chaos and a nightmare. Moody’s credit rating agency has warned about the problems of not having a new government by next year. Billions of shekels are being squandered and wasted.

For the 120 members of Knesset, though, it doesn’t seem like the problems are acute. Perhaps if having a third election meant none of them would receive a salary next year, the impact that their irresponsibility is having on the country would be noticed in the comfortable halls of the parliament, the way it is going to be noticed across the land.

The public has mostly surrendered, viewing this year-long charade as inevitable and feeling powerless to do anything.

There are two days left. Stop this disaster.