Even though Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid Party, announced that he had succeeded in forming a wide-reaching coalition to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 consecutive years in power, there were still doubts that the “government of change” would be able to secure a majority for a Knesset swearing-in vote.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has no intention of going without a fight. He labeled the emerging coalition a danger to Israel’s security and accused Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Yamina Party, who will serve first as prime minister in a rotation agreement with Lapid, of deceiving the electorate by joining with the Left.
Knesset members from the eight parties in the emerging coalition – comprising of parties from the Right, Left and Center and the Islamist United Arab List (Ra’am) – together comprise only 61 of the 120 Israeli lawmakers, a wafer thin majority which means that even a single MK breaking coalition discipline will endanger the majority.
Even as the final coalition agreements were being signed on the night of June 2, the first cracks began to appear.
Nir Orbach from Yamina expressed doubts about the emerging coalition.
Yamina only has seven Knesset seats and one of its MKs, Amichai Chikli, has already declared he will not back the government. If Orbach follows suit, the government could collapse even before the swearing in ceremony in the Knesset.
Polls show more than 60% of Yamina voters opposed joining the alliance even though Bennett will serve first as prime minister, becoming Israel’s first ever religiously-observant, kippah-wearing, premier.
“All Knesset members who were elected with the votes of the Right must oppose this dangerous left-wing government,” the prime minister tweeted. “Bennett has sold the Negev to the United Arab List,” he stated, as part of the assertion that Yamina had agreed to repeal the Kaminitz Law, designed to curb illegal building in the Arab sector – an assertion that was denied by the change coalition.
He condemned incitement but continued to attack Bennett. “We are witnessing the biggest election fraud in the country’s history. Nobody will silence us,” he said. “When a huge public feels that it has been deceived, when the national camp is vehemently opposed to a dangerous left-wing government, it is their right and their duty to express protest in all legal and democratic means. Do not be afraid to stick it to them,” he said. “It is part of the scam. Do not be afraid to tell the truth.”
A letter signed by well-known rabbis spread on social media was widely criticized as encouraging incitement. “This government is completely contrary to the will of the people as expressed emphatically in the last election,” the letter said. “Every effort must be made to prevent this government from being formed.”
Demonstrations outside the homes of Yamina and other right-wing coalition members will continue until the Knesset swearing-in ceremony. The social media campaign includes open incitement calling the MKs traitors and supporters of terror.
The incitement included burning a picture of Bennett, threats to the lives of New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar’s children and publishing fake death notices for Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg.
Yamina Knesset member Matan Kahana admitted that Yamina lawmakers are under tremendous pressure to back out of the new coalition. “It’s everywhere. Social media, phone calls, protests outside homes – to the point of crossing some red lines. Some MKs feel their children are being threatened. The prime minister is definitely stirring the pot but not just him. Our rivals are sparing no effort to undermine us.”
The rise in violent rhetoric led the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to begin providing security for Naftali Bennett, as Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman issued a rare public warning, sounding alarm bells that the current atmosphere of incitement could lead to tragic bloodshed in Israel.
Designated Prime Minister Bennett called on Prime Minister Netanyahu not to leave behind scorched earth. Let go, release the country to move on, he said in a statement to the press. He also said that a violent machine had been operated against Yamina and New Hope MKs to prompt them to defect and vote against the new government.
The radical Right are particularly incensed over the fact that Ra’am, with four seats, is supporting the government, although it will not have a ministerial portfolio.
“We have reached a critical mass of agreements in various areas that serve the interests of Arab society and provide solutions to its burning problems – planning, the housing crisis and, of course, combating violence and organized crime,” Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas said after signing the coalition agreement.
Abbas views the coalition deal as vindication for his decision to split from Israel’s main Arab coalition, the Joint List, before the March 23 election after advocating that Ra’am, the political wing of the southern branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement, will work with Netanyahu and other right-wing factions to improve living standards for Arabs.
The move marks a watershed in Israeli politics and is the first time an Arab party has joined an Israeli coalition, representing an important step towards the integration of Israeli Arabs. The fact that Abbas’s party is joining the government takes on particular significance as it comes only a few weeks after unprecedented communal riots spread across Israel – while Operation Guardian of the Walls took place in Gaza – particularly in mixed cities such as Jaffa, Lod and Acre where Jews and Arabs live side by side.
Bennett described Abbas as a courageous leader, apologizing for calling him a “terror supporter” in the past. “Our new government will be an opportunity to turn the page between Israel and its Arab citizens,” Bennett said.
Ironically, it was Netanyahu himself who legitimized the Right endorsing the Islamist Ra’am, after he held talks with the party in an effort to persuade them to join the coalition he was trying to form.
In fact, as Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman noted, the politician who is the architect of the pro-change government is Netanyahu. His treatment of Benny Gantz after they signed a rotation agreement, convinced many politicians that he simply cannot be trusted. Even Likud members admit that the primary reason they’ve lost power is Netanyahu’s lack of credibility.
Potential coalition partners, particularly on the Right, declined to be part of his government no matter what generous offers he made, and Netanyahu has only himself to blame for that. The new government will also be unusual because it will have no representatives from the haredi ultra-Orthodox parties, although they were also in the opposition for two years during Netanyahu’s third government.
The haredim are particularly concerned that funding for religious institutions may be cut due to the fact that Avigdor Liberman will be the new finance minister while his Yisrael Beytenu Party will also control the Knesset Finance Committee. United Torah Judaism MK Yisrael Eichler termed Liberman’s appointment as finance minister “a declaration of war against a million Haredi citizens of Israel.”
Shas MK Yinon Azoulay noted that the haredim were the only sector excluded from the change coalition. “They have a political right to form a government, but they don’t have a right to take Haredi children and allow them to go hungry,” he said, referring to the new coalition.
Both Bennett and Sa’ar have indicated that they are open to the idea of the haredi parties joining the coalition at some stage in the future but it is not clear how feasible this scenario is: for the moment they remain an integral part of the Netanyahu bloc.
Even if the change government eventually comes into being, it is clear that such a wide-ranging coalition will not be able to take decisions without a consensus amongst the parties whose ideological platforms are diametrically opposed. The change government won’t actually be able to change much.
The left-wing Meretz declared that it will promote legislation for same-sex marriage. Ra’am responded with outrage – a taste of what is to come for the government which before it is even sworn in is already being dubbed the government of paralysis. And other issues are equally contentious: proposed changes to the justice system and judicial appointments; construction in the settlements; religion and state; and enforcement measures against illegal construction in the Negev and Galilee.
The glue that led to eight such disparate parties joining together in Israel’s most bizarre coalition ever was the desire to get Netanyahu out of Balfour Street. The glue that will keep the coalition together will be the realization that the unraveling of the coalition and new elections may bring him back.