119 more days of mountains and molehills - analysis

“If you ask me, in 120 days there will be an election unless there will be change, which depends mostly on Blue and White,” Zohar said.

By GIL HOFFMAN
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz – a table apart. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz – a table apart.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The first day after the end of the latest political crisis came and went on Tuesday with no substantial progress toward preventing the next one.
A meeting of Likud and Blue and White negotiating teams that had been set for Tuesday did not end up happening. It does not help that the head of Blue and White’s team, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, is in quarantine due to contact with Integration and Aliyah Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, who tested positive for COVID-19.
But progress toward igniting the next crisis did happen on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angered Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz when he took credit for proposed new grants for those with negative income tax and left out Gantz, who was involved in drafting the plan.
Blue and White officials also did not like hearing coalition chairman Miki Zohar threaten them again on the radio.
“If you ask me, in 120 days there will be an election unless there will be change, which depends mostly on Blue and White,” Zohar said. “Until Blue and White puts the three intense elections aside, it will be difficult to function.”
A Direct Polls survey taken for Channel 12 found that 34.1% think Gantz won the conflict, 33.1% said Netanyahu emerged victorious, 22.6% said neither of them and 10.2% said both.
Such an inconclusive result will only give both sides more incentive to win the next fight.
The new deadline to pass the state budget is December 23, 120 days after the deadline was extended on Monday night. Between now and then, there are two main issues that have to be resolved: Political appointments and how the government functions.
In a typical solution for disputes involving Netanyahu, a committee will be formed to deal with political appointments. The extent of the Likud’s involvement on the committee has yet to be resolved.
The government has not yet decided how to handle the majority that Likud has in the cabinet because Gantz did not appoint enough ministers and let the Likud appoint an extra one. The two parties are supposed to have equal say in the cabinet but have not figured out yet how to do that if there are more ministers from Likud.
Both of those disputes could end up being insurmountable, depending on whether Netanyahu decides it is the right time for him to initiate an election. Likud officials admitted openly that if the deal with the United Arab Emirates had yielded more mandates for Likud in the polls, an election may have been initiated last night.
Over the next 119 days, there will be plenty of mountains and molehills that will be magnified and minimized based on political interests. Whether progress will also be made toward serving the public and accomplishing the government’s goals remains to be seen.