Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gordian Knot [Op-Ed]

For Benjamin Netanyahu, the election last January has been an endless source of grief, frustration and headaches.

Bad enough that his party only won a pathetic 31 seats. Worse still was that 11 out of those seats belong to his supposed ally Avigdor Liebermann and his “Yisrael Beiteinu” party and only 20 in the hands of Netanyahu’s Likud party. But worst of all is probably the de facto alliance between the “Yesh Atid” Party and the Jewish Home Party who are currently in a position to block any coalition government Netanyahu can realistically hope to create.

On the face of it, these two parties have little in common. Yesh Atid’s political platform calls for negotiations with the Palestinians, supports the two-state solution, demands a change to the elctoral system and is supportive of more secular and liberal policies in cultural-religious issues.

The Jewish Home Party’s adamantly opposes any peace deal which includes giving up lands, the expulsion of Jewish settlers and the establishment of a Palestinian state, opposes what it views as “the over-judicialization of Israel” and is decidedly to right on many other domestic issues such as illegal immigration, the media and civil unions of any kind.

Yet the two parties leaders, Yair Lapid, a former journalist, actor and news anchor and Naftali Bennett, a former IDF commando officer and businessman, have managed to find common ground on several issues, the most prominent of which is the drafting of ultra-orthodox Yeshiva students, an issue which has plagued Israel for decades.

Yet the ultra-orthodox Shas and Yehadut Ha-Torah parties, whom Netanyahu seeks to include in his government, are adamantly opposed to any change in the status quo regarding this issue.

In previous coalition negotiations, the draft of Yeshiva students would generally take second place to foreign and security policy. Yet now, for the first time, two critical parties are making the draft a top priority and are willing to rebuke Benjamin Netanyahu’s offers to join his coalition unless the issue is resolved.

Netanyahu’s Likud-Beiteinu Party, together with Shas, Yehadut Ha-Torah, Tzipi Livni’s Ha-Tnuah Party and what remains of the Kadima party, only has 57 seats which is 4 seats short of the 61 seats required for a majority. Netanyahu has since been seeking ways to cut the Gordian Knot that is the Lapid-Bennett alliance.

According to a report on Israel’s Channel 2 News, Netanyahu promised the Jewish Home Party at least 4 cabinet positions if they join up first.

The Jewish Home Party responded by stating that they “[were] unaware of such an offer.” Uri Orbach, one of their senior Knesset Members, told Ma’ariv magazine that “this is one of the Likud’s spins, which is attempting to use the divide-and-conquer method without any intention of fulfilling its promises.”

When this approach failed, the ultra-orthodox parties attempted to persuade the rabbis who were influential with the Jewish Home Party and its constituents.

According to Uri Ariel, Bennett’s number 2 in the party, this approach had failed due to the fact that “the party decides such things. We respect the rabbis and consult with them, but obviously the decision is made by the party.”

Appeals to the party’s base, stating that the Jewish Home leadership reneged upon its promises to its voters, also failed.

Netanyahu later attempted to apply pressure upon the recalcitrant parties by signing Tzipi Livni on as Justice Minister and putting her in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians, a move that angered both Lapid and Bennett, leading to additional demands from Netanyahu.

Finally, Netanyahu brought forth his biggest threat to date: new elections.

In response, Lapid and Bennett both started to gear up for a new election campaign, with the Jewish Home Party stating that “Netanyahu is issuing threats with an unloaded gun.” According to Ynet News, a poll released last week indicated that in any new election, Yesh Atid and the Jewish Home parties could win as many as 30 and 15 seats, respectively, while Likud-Beiteinu would drop to 22.

This week, Netanyahu met with Pres. Shimon Peres to request the final 2-week extension permitted by law to form a government. But having run out of tricks and running out of time, Netanyahu seems to be bowing to the inevitable by negotiating with both parties together.

While it is clear that Netanyahu is unhappy with the situation and hopes to change it sometime in future, for now it seems that he has failed to cut the Gordian Knot.