Stop the election madness, it's time for a functioning coalition – comment

Even if the budget deadline will be extended, we all know it is just a patch. The animosity between Netanyahu and Gantz, which leads to an inability to work, will continue.

By UDI SHAHAM
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)
Can you feel it? It is called déjà vu.
It was Wednesday, May 29, 2019, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s mandate to form a coalition was about to expire at midnight. The clock was ticking.
Netanyahu’s bloc had only 60 seats, and the negotiations were not going anywhere.
Reports coming from the Knesset claimed that Avigdor Liberman was refusing to back down from his firm stance on the haredi draft bill. Rumors were that Labor’s Avi Gabbay was offered three senior portfolios, even though he had brought the party down from 24 to six seats.
Everyone was sure that Netanyahu had a secret plan and that he would succeed in forming a government. By 11:59 p.m., people predicted, we would see the brilliant surprise he had been planning all along. Netanyahu losing was not an option. No way. He always waits until the last minute and then pulls a rabbit from his hat.
Then, just before midnight, we received the news – Netanyahu lost. The Knesset plenum gathered and voted – Israel was heading to a second election.
Netanyahu set two precedents that evening. Not only was it the first time in Israel’s history that a candidate given a mandate to form a government had failed; Netanyahu also set a precedent that if he can’t form a government, no one will.
It was just like that joke about the cadet who was kicked out of the Air Force pilot’s course and then asks to join the Air Defense Corps. “If I can’t fly, no one will fly,” he says.
At the time, no one knew that what Netanyahu did would lead Israel into a year of political chaos. In just over a year, we had three rounds of elections, wasting billions of shekels.
Fast-forward to August 2020.
This time we already have a government. It was established in May to fight coronavirus – the worst health crisis this country has ever experienced.
It happened after Netanyahu’s bloc received only 58 seats, and he had to compromise. He would serve as prime minister for the first 18 months, and Benny Gantz would take over for the following 18 months.
But since the agreement was signed, it seems that Netanyahu has done everything possible to weaken Gantz, make him look small and eventually end the agreement.
This entire saga - that might be solved on Monday following Netanyahu’s deceleration to agree to MK Tzvi Hauser’s compromise initiative - made us feel like May 2019 again, and the precedent that was set indicates one thing: Our leaders, including Netanyahu, think about their own future before they think of ours.
Despite the suggested compromise, election is always around the corner, and might still happen when the extension period is over.
When asked at the press conference Sunday night if he will fulfill his agreement with Gantz, he said “if we will work together, the plans and the agreements will be fulfilled,” he said, leaving the election option open, if things will not go well.
Instead of fighting coronavirus, they are fighting between themselves. Instead of fighting to create jobs, they are thinking of ways to embarrass each other.
Israel reached one of its lowest points in history over the last two years. The mudslinging between the politicians divided the country, and our leaders are doing nothing about it.
This government has also failed in almost every single task. Efforts to stem the spread of the virus are failing, the division in society is still there, and even on security issues it seems – based on recent events in the Gaza Strip – that they cannot work together.
This could be an opportunity for two of the most prominent opposition leaders, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, to step up and say: Netanyahu and Gantz, thank you for your service. You are going home. Then, they would create a new government within this current Knesset.
Both Lapid and Bennett, who are widely disliked in their opposite camps, can really bring the unity government Israel needs and prevent an unnecessary and expensive election.
Both of them should call upon all Knesset factions – including the haredim, who are Lapid’s biggest rivals, and the Arabs, who are Bennett’s biggest rivals – to come together. All parties should take part in fighting the deadly virus that, anyhow, doesn’t distinguish between us.
This is the time to end the division in Israel, the division that our current leaders thrive off of.
Even if the budget deadline will be extended, we all know it is just a patch. Something like a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. The animosity between Netanyahu and Gantz, which leads to an inability to work, will continue.
We need a new, responsible government. We need leaders who think about us, not themselves.


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