by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The political crisis in Israel, triggered by the deal with the Palestinian movement Hamas, is gaining momentum.
Stung by the "betrayal of the authorities," the leader of the "Yiddish Power" party
| …English speakers would translate Otzma Yehudit as Jewish Power…. |
The appointment of successors has been delayed, which seems to have come as a surprise even to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He was forced not only to look for a trusted person willing to accept vacant portfolios during the transition period, but also to try to restore the weakening parliamentary advantage under time pressure.
| Bibi is a political logroller par excellence. If anyone can find replacements to cobble together another coalition, he’ll pull it off again. |
The coalition members saw a chance to strengthen their positions in the government by regaining control over previously lost departments. Among the first to express such an intention was Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, who had previously ceded the Ministry of Negev, Galilee and National Resilience to Ben-Gvir's supporters as part of the coalition agreements.
Tikva Hadasha and Religious Zionism also expressed a desire to intercept the vacant portfolios.
At the same time, the Prime Minister himself was clearly not in the mood to engage in political charity.
In the first days after the resignation of the Minister of National Security, Netanyahu tried to appoint trusted party members to the post. In particular, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Israel Katz received offers. However, both refused to combine the posts under plausible pretexts.
It was also not possible to reach an agreement with the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Avi Dichter.
Although he was positioned as the "number one candidate" for the post of Minister of National Security, he did not dare to take on the additional burden. In addition, Dichter's constant calls to convene a commission to investigate the reasons for the successful Hamas invasion are causing concern among Netanyahu's "inner circle". The appointment was withdrawn.
Most Likud members, including the prime minister himself, would prefer to leave the vacant portfolios in the hands of the prime minister himself (Israeli law allows for this possibility).
However, Netanyahu's past turbulent political life played a cruel joke on him: due to the "Deri-Pinhasi precedent" (a ban on holding certain positions due to criminal prosecution), the current prime minister cannot apply for "sensitive posts," which include the Ministry of National Security.
As a result, after almost a week of heated debate, the parties finally reached a consensus.
All vacant portfolios went to Chaim Katz, the Likud Minister of Tourism (not to be confused with Israel Katz, the Minister of Defense. — Ed.).
This is far from the first time in Israel's history that several positions have been combined; however, in most cases, it was an emergency and the number of positions did not exceed two.
In fact, Katz became the unofficial record holder in Israeli politics for the number of positions held simultaneously.
However, in order not to once again emphasize the shift in the center of gravity towards the prime minister’s Likud, Netanyahu made a Solomonic decision.
According to his order, Katz will serve as acting minister for only the next three months. By the end of that period, the coalition must decide on candidates for permanent ministers.
Katz's appointment to three new positions at once, as well as his three-month term of office, quite transparently hints that Netanyahu has not abandoned hope of returning Ben-Gvir and his supporters to the coalition. Especially since the latter is in no hurry to get closer to the opposition forces and, out of habit, torpedoes their legislative initiatives.
In addition, Ben-Gvir leaves a window of opportunity to restore relations with Netanyahu.
The condition for his return, judging by the latest statements, is a more rigorous defense by the cabinet of ministers of the right to expand settlement expansion in the West Bank, as well as to maintain a presence in Gaza (at least symbolic). The former minister and his fellow party members also expect that Netanyahu will “show toughness” during the upcoming tour to the United States and will be able to disrupt the “protracted triumph” of Hamas.
The prime minister has been given three months to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Israeli “hawks”.
In reality, however, Netanyahu has much less time. The squabbles with "Jewish Power" must be resolved before the first stage of the agreement with Hamas expires, that is, before the beginning of March. Otherwise, new lines of division will be added to the existing ones, provoked by the exodus of other "hawkish" parties.
Thus, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (leader of the Religious Zionism party), who is quite close in his views to Ben-Gvir, remained in the government only after Netanyahu’s “ironclad promises” to limit the truce with Hamas to only the stage of exchanging hostages and not to withdraw the remaining forces from Gaza.
If the prime minister does not keep his word, Smotrich's party will also leave the coalition. The government will lose mandates that are necessary not only to gain an advantage over the parliamentary opposition, but also to ensure its own legitimacy.
And this will make early elections inevitable, which will be the end of the political career of Netanyahu and his closest supporters.
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