Israel's government is out of sync – analysis

Hope for a functional government was overly optimistic.

By HERB KEINON
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)
When the Likud and Blue and White signed a coalition agreement two months ago, many heaved a sigh of relief that after 18 months without a permanent government and three election cycles, the country was finally going to get a functional government.
And back in May that was what everyone believed the country needed: a permanent government that would have the tools to deal with the pandemic that was wreaking havoc on the land. Israel, this reasoning held, badly needed a lasting government with a wide enough parliamentary majority able to make the critical decisions needed to steer the country out of the corona crisis.
And, yes, Israel got a non-transitional government. How functional it is, however, is a different question, though judging by what happened in the Knesset on Wednesday, the answer would have to be “not very.”
“This is a disgrace,” Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn thundered from the podium, before a vote on whether to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into judicial conflicts of interest among Supreme Court judges.
Nissenkorn, whose Blue and White Party sits together with the Likud in the coalition, yelled at his partners, “Shame on you. This is a test of Israel’s democracy and the rule of law. What the Likud did is a total and blatant violation of the coalition agreement. I am ashamed that the prime minister instructed the Likud members to vote for this proposal.”
He may have given the order, but Netanyahu – along with 11 other Likud MKs and ministers – did not show up for the vote, ensuring that the measure would go down to defeat – 54-43. Had Netanyahu and the other 11 Likud members voted for the measure as the party instructed, it would have passed.
Immediately after coalition chairman Miki Zohar gave instructions to vote for the establishment of the controversial parliamentary commission, Blue and White officials were being quoted as saying that they would vote for Yesh Atid’s proposal, likely to come up in the coming days, to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the Submarines Affair, which Netanyahu’s political opponents alleged he was involved in.
Not exactly the stuff on which an amicable coalition relationship is maintained.
What the whole episode shows is that the hope for a functional government was overly optimistic.
And regarding the permanence of the government? There the likelihood is that despite dysfunction in the government becoming evident day by day – be it over the annexation issue, over the budget, or anything having to do with the courts or our judicial system – no one is rushing to new elections.
Why not? Because with the current mood in the country as angry and bitter as it is because of the corona-induced dire economic straits, neither Netanyahu nor Gantz have much of an interest in facing the voter. Do either of them really want to face tens of thousands of entrepreneurs out of business, or the nearly million Israelis out of work?
Gantz even less so than Netanyahu, since his willingness to join a coalition with Netanyahu – despite what he promised during the campaigns – alienated a good portion of his voters.
Politically, Gantz has nowhere to go. In the polls his Blue and White Party, which won 33 seats in the last elections before splintering when he decided to link arms with Netanyahu, is getting between 9 and 11 seats. He would likely get wiped out in a new election.
But neither is Netanyahu overly anxious to go to the electorate. While just a few months ago he gave a press conference which was dubbed his “How I Beat the Corona” speech, on Tuesday the numbers of people diagnosed with the virus was at a record high for Israel, and the institution of new regulations will make already nightmarish economic situations facing people even worse. He no longer boasts that countries around the world are looking at Israel as a model for how to fight the virus.
A Channel 12 poll this week had Netanyahu winning 37 seats if elections were held now, four down from his polling numbers just a couple weeks ago. But more importantly, only 33% gave him good marks for the way he was dealing with the economic aspects of the virus. You don’t opt to go to new elections with those numbers.
That the Likud and Blue and White do not see eye to eye on a variety of issues is known. According to the coalition agreement, however, they were to put all of that aside for six months and focus – with the exception of annexation, which they would discuss together – on corona. But rather than that happening, what the country is witnessing is constant bickering and disagreements. That does not instill much confidence in a public that needs – perhaps now more than ever – confidence in the government’s judgment and ability to function harmoniously.
Ever since the emergency government was sworn in, the country’s situation vis-à-vis the pandemic has gotten worse, not better. Coincidence? Maybe, but something at the top is not working, the parties are more at odds than in sync, and Wednesday’s Knesset drama brought that all painfully home for everyone to see.