Rivlin reprimands government for election talk during national crisis

President accuses coalition parties of treating country like ‘rag doll’ with their political squabbles.

By JEREMY SHARON
Israel President Reuven Rivlin (photo credit: JERUSALEM POST)
Israel President Reuven Rivlin
(photo credit: JERUSALEM POST)
President Reuven Rivlin has strongly criticized the behavior of the government in recent days, accusing the warring political parties of petty squabbling while the country is in crisis.
In a meeting he held with social workers to express thanks for the work after a strike they staged this week, Rivlin addressed all the coalition factions and said that they were ignoring the needs of the country.
"I would like to address the government as a whole. Like all citizens of this country, I look on the developments in the Knesset with deep concern as they shake the already fragile relations between coalition partners,” said the president.
“As a citizen and on behalf of us all, I say: get a grip! Stop the talk of early elections, of that terrible option at this time, and save yourselves from it.
“The State of Israel is not a rag doll you drag around as you squabble. The people need you all to be focused, clear and finding solutions to this crisis. It's in your hands.”
The president’s comments come after a coalition crisis erupted on Wednesday when Blue and White voted for an opposition bill on banning gay conversion therapy, leading to bitter denunciations from the Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
Blue and White itself is thought to have voted with the opposition in retaliation to Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to back an opposition proposal to establish a commission of enquiry in judges over conflicts of interest concerns, although that proposal was ultimately defeated.
Looming over these internal coalition hostilities is a bitter fight over the budget, in which Blue and White is insisting on a two-year budget, as set out in the coalition agreement with the Likud, and Netanyahu is demanding a one year budget.
Both sides argue that their case is motivated by economic and financial considerations, although political motivations appear most likely.
A one year budget for 2020 would give Netanyahu the opportunity to go to elections in March 2021 if the 2021 budget is not passed by the end of that month, without handing over the premiership to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
Gantz for his part is insisting on a two year budget for precisely that reason.