The day after, many faces are long and helpless. Israel’s governing coalition has thrown in the towel after just a year, parliament is to be dissolved and new elections held – the fifth in three and a half years. The country is thrown back into political instability. In short, Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp can celebrate, who, after an interlude as opposition leader, believes he is already on his way to the prime minister’s office again. “A broad national government,” he promises the electorate, will bring “national pride” back to Israel.
The result of the eight-party coalition of right, left and an Arab party is anything but surprising. For weeks she has been reeling along the abyss without a majority in parliament. Now the protagonists – Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Jair Lapid, who is now to succeed him as interim prime minister until a new government is formed – want to at least determine the end themselves and forestall the opposition with their own law dissolving the Knesset. “This is not an easy moment,” Bennett said, “but we made the right decision for the State of Israel.”
The trigger for the breakup of the coalition was the extension of a law, which expires on June 30th, that subjects the settlers in the West Bank to Israeli civil law. Since 1967, this regulation to protect the settlers has been routinely renewed every five years. But the motley government troops had not managed to secure a majority of their own for this, and the opposition, which was actually pro-settlers, had allowed them to run aground. To prevent chaos in the occupied territories, the only option was surrender. Because in the case of new elections, it is planned that the old regulation will be automatically extended until a new government takes care of the matter after three months at the latest.
The election campaign will probably be tough and dirty
Ultimately, the coalition failed because of its own ideological differences – and yet it left the country a lot in a short space of time. This includes the passing of the first state budget since 2018, but above all the attempt to overcome the internal divisions in society. “We sat at a table together and spoke to each other with respect,” Bennett said in parting. “We sent out the message that things can be different.”
But now everything is being put back to square one, and Netanyahu has long been in attack mode. He berated the previous government as “the worst in Israel’s history” and accused it of neglecting the safety of citizens and being responsible for steep price increases. That’s a foretaste of the election campaign, which is likely to be tough and dirty.
Netanyahu, as usual, is banking on division, targeting the Arab minority, represented in the government for the first time in the country’s history under Bennett and Lapid. Although he himself had been negotiating seriously with Mansour Abbas from the Raam party about participating in the government a year ago, he now rules out sitting at a coalition table with such “terrorist supporters”.
His goal is the formation of a right-wing and religious government, with which he could, incidentally, gain advantages in the corruption process against him. His partners in this are the two ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, which have already hailed the collapse of the coalition as an act of divine providence. They are pushing with all their might to be able to continue their old clientele politics as the governing party. Then there is the extreme right-wing and openly racist Religious Zionist Party, which is now in third place in polls.
The new election could take place on October 25
For the designated interim prime minister, Lapid, these are the “dark forces” whose return to power must be prevented. But the previous coalition will hardly be able to act as a cohesive bloc after its failure. In addition, some smaller partners are threatened with being thrown out of parliament in the upcoming election with a result of less than four percent.
The course for this election should now be set as quickly as possible. It is possible that the first vote on the law to dissolve the Knesset will take place as early as this Wednesday. After that, three regular readings plus voting are necessary, and everything should be wrapped up by next week at the latest. The date for the new election is October 25th.
The rush is intended to prevent Netanyahu from yet another coup. In his view, it would be much easier to secure a majority in the existing parliament with the help of defectors than through a new election. All those members of parliament who have to fear for their mandate in a new election could be susceptible to generous offers.