Early coalition collapse averted
SEVEN WEEKS since the elections, on Wednesday afternoon, the Knesset removed the final obstacle to Benjamin Netanyahu’s fourth government when it narrowly passed an amendment that allowed him to appoint more than 18 ministers to his new cabinet.
Objections to the law by some coalition members were voted down by the minimum majority, 61-59, a signal of how difficult life will be in the new, narrow coalition.
At one stage during the voting on the objections, Likud whip Zeev Elkin had to exhort Mr Netanyahu to return to his seat in the plenum, lest the coalition lose the vote.
The new government is expected to include 22 ministers, a move that necessitated changing a law passed less than two years ago by the previous Knesset, which was also supported by Mr Netanyahu.
In what is becoming a frequent intervention, President Reuven Rivlin criticised the change, saying in an interview on Tuesday that “these things are not helpful for Israel’s unwritten
Netanyahu constitution. They undermine public trust.” The opposition knew it had no chance of winning the vote but it used the opportunity to begin a planned campaign of harassment of the government. It added dozens of objections to the amendment, many of them humorous, such as the motion to replace the word “cabinet” with “Bibi’s crew”.
Following the vote, Mr Netanyahu began his own party’s reshuffle, summoning senior Likud members to inform them of his choices for ministerial positions.
Within the party, there is much frustration at the fact that many of the choice ministries were awarded to the coalition partners, leaving Likud with only 12 positions, and very few senior ones.
None of the curr e n t l y s e r v i n g Likud ministers are expected to receive significant promotions. Defence minister Moshe Yaalon and transport minister Yisrael Katz will almost certainly remain in their current posts, while Gilad Erdan
i s expected to be offered the Interior Ministry. Now that the planning commission has been moved to the Housing Ministry, however, the post has lost a lot of its potential power.
After the vote, Labour leader Isaac Herzog tweeted that the “coalition’s victory is a Pyrrhic one. There is no government in Israel.”
Nevertheless, Mr Herzog has been quietly negotiating a possible alliance with Mr Netanyahu in government, through intermediaries. So far, the talks have borne no fruit.
On paper, Mr Herzog is now the leader of a large opposition with the potential to cause trouble for the government but it will be very difficult to co-ordinate five parties with different agendas.
This week, Labour and Yesh Atid members traded insults over the previous government’s record. Also, a Yisrael Beiteinu MK was ejected for calling Meretz MKs “collaborators with the enemy” after they read out testimonies of Operation Protective Edge veterans that had been published last week by the Breaking the Silence NGO.
Thetiny majority is a signal of how difficult life will be in the coalition