The political crisis continues, due to the fact that the two largest political parties in Israel being unable to reach an agreement on how to form a coalition government for the longest time. In spite the recent declaration made by Beni Ganz, leader of the Kahol Lavan and the current Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, that they are ready to proceed with the creation of a “new unity government”, the crisis rages on. The country has had three general elections this year, which have cost Israel several billion dollars,
In retrospect, on the evening of April 15, the mandate given to Blue and White party leader and the Speaker of the Knesset Benny Gantz to form a government expired, yet the Gantz’s Blue and White political alliance (Israel Resilience Party) and the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu were unable to come to an agreement on how to form Israel’s coalition government. Negotiations continued between the two parties, but more and more in Gantz’s party were voicing the opinion that Netanyahu was against forming any kind of emergency government whatsoever, and that he would prefer to send the country to the polls for yet another round of voting. According to information leaked to the press, recent polls predict a landslide victory for Likud and the right-wing Zionist political bloc.
On April 16, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin gave the Knesset a new mandate to choose a prime minister. But then on April 21, the two parties announced their intention to form a coalition government.
Benny Gantz was to remain the Speaker of the Knesset after negotiations with Likud have broken down, and according to observers, he was still to maintain a majority to push through four bills to prevent Netanyahu from holding onto power, which prohibit the task of forming a coalition from being allocated to anyone facing criminal charges.
Moldovan-born head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party (Israel Our Home) Avigdor Lieberman who previously served as the Israeli Defense Minister would earlier criticize the efforts of Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu in the negotiation process to agree on a unity government. “We want a national unity government, but this is not a government of unity. This is a Netanyahu government which includes another alliance called the Blue and While party. The only thing Netanyahu is doing is looking for ways to circumvent the Supreme Court, the Judicial Appointments Committee… He is not holding any talks about the coronavirus, about economic recovery, nothing,” said Lieberman.
Lieberman has called for the formation of a national unity government between his party, Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White coalition The newspaper Israel Hayom has reported that Lieberman insists Likud needs to find a replacement for Benjamin Netanyahu in order to achieve this goal, and should nominate another Likud candidate for the role of prime minister. According to this article, Lieberman is working behind the scenes amid Israel’s ongoing political turmoil, looking to break the deadlock by finding an alternative candidate to head Likud, who could bring together a national unity government. However, many senior Likud members reiterated their loyalty to Netanyahu, including Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Zeev Elkin, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, Economy Minister Eli Cohen, and Coalition Chairman MK David Amsalem.
Meanwhile, on April 16, thousands attended a “black flag” rally on Habima Square in Tel Aviv to protest the erosion of democracy and to resist the Netanyahu “dictatorship”. Ynet estimates that more than a thousand people gathered on the square waving black flags. Speakers who addressed the demonstrators included former head of the Israel Security Agency (better known by the acronym Shabak or the Shin Bet) Yuval Diskin, and former commander of the Israeli Defense Forces Northern Command Amiram Levin. They spoke about how Netanyahu is carrying out a coup in Israel, using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover, and how the Israeli democracy is being turned into a corrupt authoritarian dictatorship.
Following these demonstration organized by the country’s left-wing camp, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair Netanyahu posted a scandalous response to a tweet by Meretz party leader Nitzan Horowitz, where he apparently expressed a wish for left-wing protesters to die: “I hope the elderly who die following this protest will only be from your camp.” Yair Netanyahu later deleted the post after the Prime Minister condemned him for it and tweeted an explanation.
All of the events which have unfolded over the past week have intensified the criticism and allegations Netanyahu has been on the receiving end of, and there have been heated discussions over the immunity law for elected officials that Netanyahu is pushing to pass in order to avoid prosecution in light of a number of criminal allegations brought against him.
Let’s not forget that in November 2019, Israel faced this kind of situation for the first time in the country’s history, when an indictment was filed against the Israeli Prime Minister, which claims that Netanyahu “placed [himself] in a severe conflict of interest between [his] public positions and [his] private affairs.”
One of the bribery and fraud charges is over suspicions that he awarded regulatory favors to Israel’s leading telecommunications company, Bezeq Telecom Israel (BEZQ.TA), while he was serving as communications minister. In return, a news website, Walla, was supposed to provide more positive coverage of Netanyahu and his wife.
Netanyahu and his family also allegedly received gifts including jewelry from two businessmen over a period between 2007 and 2016, the total value of which amounts to one million shekels (258,000 euro). According to the Israeli police, these were illegal donations from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchen and Australian businessman James Packer.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied all allegations made against him. However, the Israeli Prime Minister could face up to 10 years in prison under Israeli law if convicted of bribery. The maximum sentence for the remaining charges is 3 years behind bars. If sentenced, this would certainly be the end of Netanyahu’s career.
That is why he is fighting so hard to extend his tenure as prime minister. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot be tried until the country’s leading politicians have negotiated the formation of a majority ruling coalition, because the parliament’s House Committee needed to approve or deny his request for immunity from prosecution does not exist yet. Until then, Netanyahu will continue to serve as prime minister and remain untried.
The special House Committee is supposed to discuss Netanyahu’s request for immunity from prosecution under Israeli law, which has not been established since the April 2019 Israeli legislative election. If a new coalition government is not formed now, the discussion of Netanyahu’s request for immunity could be delayed again. Netanyahu cannot be formally indicted in court until the Knesset House Committee has debated his request for immunity.
All this makes Netanyahu interested in not having a special Knesset committee discussing his plea to obtain immunity from prosecution, but at the same time he doesn’t want the so-called “Government of National Unity” to last for long. He wants to gain complete confidence in his ability to handle the situation in the government single-handedly, without playing a part in any sort of “coalition governments”.
Valery Kulikov, political analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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