New elections would cost the country millions of shekels it does not have at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are out of work.
By HERB KEINONPeople vote in Jerusalem on election day, March 2, 2020.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
What is worse for Israel: a dysfunctional government or going to new elections?Sounds crazy, but right now those seem to be the options.New elections, the fourth within 18 months, would cost the country millions of shekels it does not have at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are out of work, and it would add division and strife at a time when the country, to fight the coronavirus, desperately needs solidarity and a sense of common purpose.Furthermore, who is to say that this time – as opposed to the last three elections since April 2019 – the balloting would render a clear outcome and a winner who would be able to form a coalition.Who wants to risk that kind of money when it is not at all clear that the result this time would be any more conclusive than it has been the past three tries? The alternative must be better, no?Actually, no, not if it is more of the same type of governance the country has had since the emergency coronavirus government was sworn into office on May 17.Since that date, the spread of the virus has only gotten worse in Israel, and the two halves of the government – the Likud half and the Blue and White half – have spent more time quarreling with and trying to upend the other than working together like a “normal” government. You know something is not working when the spread of the virus is worse under a government set up explicitly to fight the virus than it was under a transitional government.The level of the government’s dysfunction became painfully apparent to all both in the manner in which last week’s accord with the United Arab Emirates, a truly historic event, was rolled out, and also in the brouhaha that developed since then over whether the deal includes Israeli acquiescence to the UAE purchasing the stealth F-35 fighter jet from the US, something Abu Dhabi has long sought.To fathom the depth of the governmental dysfunction, consider that neither Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, nor Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, were in on the discussions leading up to the deal, or apparently had any inkling it was coming down.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed off on the accord normalizing ties with the UAE without informing either of his top two ministers, men whose ministries have a great deal of competence in the matters at hand. It would be akin to a US president entering into an agreement with China without the secretaries of state or defense knowing such a thing was even under discussion.That is not how a well-functioning government is supposed to work. And Netanyahu’s reason for cutting the two completely out of the loop? State security. He was concerned that if he let the two former IDF chiefs of staff in on the secret, it would leak out and jeopardize the deal.That type of concern just shows the depth of the distrust between the two parties leading the country.And then the brouhaha over the F-35s hit, and it raises questions about whether that distrust is completely unfounded. On Tuesday, Nahum Barnea, a fervently anti-Netanyahu columnist, reported in Yediot Aharonot, a fervently anti-Netanyahu newspaper, that the F-35s were part of the deal and that the country’s security establishment was kept in the dark.The source of the information is unknown, but it does not stretch credibility to believe it may have come from the direction of Blue and White, interested – for political reasons – on raining on this particular parade to deny Netanyahu a victory.For a couple of days, the UAE accord knocked the anti-Netanyahu protests out of the headlines – not something that seems to be in Blue and White’s interest. Another reason the party might have to spoil the party is because Netanyahu, by keeping Gantz and Ashkenazi out of the loop, appeared to want all the credit for himself and not share it with his political rivals, even if they also happen to be his senior ministers.Between new elections and the dysfunctionality of the current government, there is, of course, a third option, and that is that Netanyahu and Gantz – staring at the possibility of new elections because of the failure to pass a budget – hit reset and start over, realizing that this is no way to run a country facing the challenges that Israel faces.But even if they do pledge to start anew, who really believes – with Netanyahu’s trial set to begin again in earnest in January and the date for his switching places with Gantz as prime minister nearing in November 2021 – such a “reset” would last.Which leads back to the beginning. What’s worse for Israel: a dysfunctional government or going to new elections?
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