Netanyahu’s family has been able to transfer their belongings to the Prime Minister’s house on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. In 2016, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of abrupt evictees in the West Bank illegal area of Amona, “I understand the meaning of homelessness. After the 1999 elections, without warning, my family and I were evicted from our homes in Balfour Street. So, with all our belongings, we were just thrown into the street. We had to go to the Sheraton Plaza Hotel, it hurt. “
The Likud party won 19 Knesset seats in the 1999 election, far less than the Labor party, led by Ehud Barak. The Barak government, as sworn in on June 13, was a coalition of factions, with Meretz on the left, the Hamerkaz central party and the Ultra-Orthodox parties on the right. The agreement lasted two years.
What can the local government teach us about the future of the new Israeli government led by Yamina Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid Yair Lapid? What hope is there for them in their seats to include parties from the Jewish right-wing parties, whose leaders have volunteered for civil rights, and Meretz lawmakers who boycott local products? Can women’s rights activist Merav Michaeli, chairperson of the Labor party, join forces with Foreign Minister Ayelet Shaked who has promised to evict those who want to save their families?
The cards that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has are far worse than Barak’s in 1999. First, there has never been a Israeli Prime Minister, or leader of any democracy, whose party won only 6% of the vote (translated into seven seats in the Knesset. 120 members, one of whom opposes the new government). Bennett is the only solution, the best in three imperfect ways, the other two being Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued rule after 12 years in power, or the fifth election expected to advance political unrest. This new government, with its design and direction, is therefore in a good position to choose its left wing or right wing.
Bennett, along with Yisrael Beitenu party leader Avigdor Lieberman and New Hope party chairman Gideon Saar, would have been more comfortable with their Likud counterparts than those living near the Labor, Meretz and Ra’am Palestinian representatives (United Arab List). ) parties. What is known about the new government is disgusting on Netanyahu’s personality and accusing him of corruption.
The allies in the new government agree with its ideology as well as its external and security policies. Perhaps, if Netanyahu asks for Likud’s leadership, or if his party members are brave enough not to oppose him, many in the new government may negotiate a deal with Likud.
However, Netanyahu declared war on his successor even before he started packing and moving to opposing benches. Netanyahu of 2021 is not the same young prime minister who was defeated 22 years ago who has retired from politics. This time, he enjoys the support of the hot forces and the army of bots.
In the last days of the government, when the ground was burned to the ground, Orthodox leaders and their rabbis joined the anti-Bennett movement. The language they adopted, as well as their threats to hell, was reminiscent of the situation that existed months after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in November 1995.
One of the challenges the new government will face is to put out the fire, restore confidence in the country’s laws, the police and the media, and strive to promote greater respect for the people.
The strange contractors of Bennett-Lapid are well aware that detractors can detect cracks in their buildings and create explosives to explode. These include laws on more complex issues, such as the relationship between religion and state, the occupation of Palestinian territories, LGBTQ rights and the recognition of progressive Jewish streams that oppose the establishment of the Ultra-Orthodox movement.
In order to deal with these bombs, a coalition agreement promotes what is happening in each of these areas. However, Netanyahu has a new type of TNT that includes arch-nationalist Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir and his anti-Arab party. Ben-Gvir was elected to the Knesset this year with the help of Netanyahu, and he is using his legal defense to breach what is in one of the most difficult places – the Muslim holy places of Jerusalem. Netanyahu can rely on Hamas and Islamic Jihad to respond to Ben-Gvir’s grievances.
And what would Bennett do if rockets from Gaza were thrown into Jerusalem in response to visits by Jewish members of the Knesset at Al-Aqsa Mosque / Temple Mount, sacred to both Jews and Muslims? Can the two Arab members of the new government, Muslim President Ra’am Mansour Abbas and United Minister of State Issawi Frej of Meretz vote to restore Gaza and kill Palestinian civilians? And would Lieberman and Saar vote for a ban if Israelis were killed by Hamas?
And will Bennett, a courageous and steadfast man, respect the court’s decision to destroy 40 homes in the West Bank’s illegal state of Evyatar? How can he navigate amid pressure by U.S. officials to negotiate talks with Palestinians over a two-state solution, which sits in the middle left to support the establishment of the Palestinian state and its strong rhetoric against it, and not the anger of allies from the right parties?
Negotiations on a new nuclear deal with Iran are another obstacle to a new government, which will force them to make the most difficult decision. If they follow Netanyahu’s military policies against the alliance, Bennett will compete with Biden’s superiors who will have power for both years. On the other hand, if the government agrees to abide by Biden’s leadership principles, Netanyahu will have to launch a public campaign against the new government for “leaving the Jewish people a second assassination”.
Throughout his long reign, Netanyahu is known as a magician walking on this wire without a protective net. Bennett saw his career getting closer when he was chief of staff when he was the leader of the opposition between 2006 and 2008. In order to have the longest power to start repairing some of Netanyahu’s spoils in Israel, Bennett must go beyond the old master.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor of Al Jazeera.
