Israeli politics has now moved from farcical to surreal; cowardice is on the rise

Forty-six hours after polling stations closed, Israel’s election results were announced last Thursday night, and that continues broch they put up with.

Turnout went up – from 71.5 per cent a year ago to 67.2 per cent on Tuesday. The rotation of the seats was quite different from what was expected in each pre-election survey and in the 10pm exit polls on Tuesday night. But the big picture is pretty familiar: Israeli voters have created another unexplained outcome.

The pro-Netanyahu camp has 52 of the 120 Knesset seats. 57. is at camp against Netanyahu at 57. Yamina has 7. at Naftali Bennett, probably inclined towards Netanyahu, and the big election confounder, the Islamic conservative party Ra’am – is not like one of the three highly inaccurate TV exit polls you would expect to make it into the Knesset – it has 4.

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That means the pro- or anti-Netanyahu alliances have no clear path for the most part, and only some kind of truly illogical amalgamation of bizarre political beds can free us from the fifth round of elections just months from seo.

A surreal coalition of an Arab party and an anti-Arab party, both anti-LGBT?

One surreal misunderstanding is already expected to have risen and fallen, though it may rise again:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated in the final weeks of the campaign that he would never include Ra’am in a coalition he leads, or even be the rely on the outside support for the most part. “Out of the question,” he told Channel 12 news last week, branding Ra’am director Mansour Abbas, who was anti-Zionist. But as the results were high, and it became clear that Ra’am’s support could build a coalition led by Likud to the magical 61-seat majority, several Likud colleagues at Netanyahu, who introducing a prime minister, feeling publicly that perhaps Ra ‘am, so far the enemy of the state, was not beyond the palate after all.

And so on Wednesday, Israeli voters were asked to consider the mental capacity of Netanyahu – the leader who campaigned on the promise to build a “full right” government, and who saved opponent Benny Gantz last year for as much as considering building a coalition dependent on Arab MKs – trying to rule with the parliamentary support of both Arabs and fine anti-Arabs: he would have Ra’am on one side, and, on the other, the farthest Religious Zionism party, with the racism of Component Otzma Yehudit who seeks to eradicate “disloyal” Arabs. These two accessible partners, however, have one thing in common: their opposition to LGBT. So we were also looking at a coalition of two anti-LGBT parties and a gay prime minister – Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu loyalist.

As of this writing, Netanyahu has not ruled or denied possible trust in Ra’am, his pre-election role nonetheless. But the leader of the Zionism Religion Bezalel Smotrich, and his colleague Otzma Yehudit Itamar Ben Gvir, made a strong intervention on Thursday morning. “Not on my watch,” Smotrich said.

And so that path to Netanyahu’s re-election seems to have been blocked. If not or until revived.

Partnering with a PM who abandoned his previously unlikely partner?

In his speech without effect early Wednesday morning, the prime minister did not reach out to Ra’am. Instead, he begged friends who were in camp against Netanyahu to come back, and thus to give Israel a fifth election.

This makes up another gambit that is unlikely, as Israel was put into this fourth vote because Netanyahu refused to go beyond the state budget, and the Knesset was automatically disbanded, just to get He is away from his signed promise to hand over the prime minister to Gantz next November. . Basically, therefore, it is now attractive for Gantz and anyone else in the Zionist anti-Netanyahu camp to do exactly what persuaded Gantz to do so automatically in less than a year. back.

Will Gantz again save Netanyahu’s skin? After challenging the political tombs and winning eight seats, the Blue and White leader, as ever, vows to “put Israel first.” Compared to last year, however, he now insists that this commitment must be put out rather than rescued by Netanyahu, who he claims to be a handler and a liar.

Will Bennett at Yamina help Netanyahu stay in office, for that matter, when the prime minister did everything in his great campaign powers to win over Bennett voters in the latter part of the race? Bennett, too, has publicly stated that Netanyahu cannot be trusted. And he would sit in government with Ben Gvir, with whom he has refused to form an alliance in the past, and who even Netanyahu said, as far as last week, that a place could not be in his government.

Could Might Netanyahu earn Knesset members from the ranks of former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar, who has achieved so far lower than previously expected in winning just six sets? Sa’ar and his party colleagues, who say Netanyahu emissaries have already come calling, believe this will not happen.

Any possible shortcomings, from the Sa’ar party or elsewhere, would not only abandon the camp against Netanyahu, but also join the party Religious Zionism, a radical alliance that are very hostile to indirect Judaism, which their leader would like. to see Israel run according to the laws of the Torah, and which includes not only the disciple Meir Kahane Ben Gvir, but also a representative of the brutal anti – LGBT movement Noam.

All to allow the continued rule of a prime minister they know to be trusted to respect political agreements; who has also been tried for corruption; that a decisive election campaign failed even after he led a worldwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign; and the ability to sustain such an unbelievable coalition seems slim – meaning they would have to go up against ever – growing voters.

In the camp against Netanyahu, efforts are underway to form very different alliances – led by Lapid, or by Lapid in circulation with Sa’ar, or by Bennett. The various changes had to oppose ideological views going back on solemn promises. None of the possibilities are simple; none of which provide a clear view of political stability.

But the alternative is the unthinkable option of more elections; what was that cliché about the definition of a complaint?

Not much for a radical reform of the judiciary

Suddenly, Israel has been hampered by political crisis from the way back in December 2018, when the Knesset disbanded ahead of the April 2019 elections. But its politics have not been paralyzed. Those latest inconclusive elections have seen Sa’ar break away from Likud, and Bennett is challenging Netanyahu – rivals from his own side of the spectrum that brought Tuesday’s vote closer to a real referendum yet on the prime minister, with left, right and center forces all waiting to oust.

It’s not ready yet, but it didn’t win despite the success of the vaccine, which allowed voters to pile up the supermarkets, beaches and restaurants on election day.

Moreover, his legal difficulties have not deepened as the electoral roll has expanded. The evidence phase of his corruption trial begins April 5, the day before our latest splintered parliament is inaugurated.

While Netanyahu maintains that he has no intention of trying to avoid his lawsuit, members of his own Likud and of Religious Ethnicity during the campaign promised to initiate legislation designed to to dismiss his accusation while he is prime minister.

But as the coalition talks play out in the coming weeks, it seems that the new Knesset does not have a majority for such legislation, or for more reintroduction. broadening of legal authority, shifted to Netanyahu’s interests, fundamentally reaffirms Israel’s separation from powers.

Alleging that the allegations against him have been made, Netanyahu has incited the police and the state prosecution, trying to disparage Israeli law enforcement. Demonstrations against the prime minister, calling for his resignation, have often clashed, revealing clashes with police and several examples of attacks by pro-Netanyahu activists. The election campaign was marred by riots, including Likud activists targeting Sa’ar. The prime minister’s son posts endless inflatable stuff on social media.

Israel has a very good knowledge of the dangers of political violence; So far, the worst money laundering has been avoided.

Four undecided votes in less than two years, without a crooked state budget and parliament, would show that our electoral system is abusive. For now, at least, the pillars of our democracy are strong.