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Major Political Changes in Israel on the Horizon? [1]

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Date: 2024-06-08  

From Axios:

Israeli minister Benny Gantz is expected to announce in a speech on Saturday his party's withdrawal from the emergency government formed after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, according to political sources close to Gantz.

Saturday is the date set three weeks ago in the ultimatum directed toward Netanyahu by Gantz to end the war in Gaza and bring the hostages still held by Hamas back home — essentially the same plan announced by Biden last Friday that Netanyahu and the entire war cabinet had supposedly agreed to, but that Netanyahu is apparently doing everything he can to sabotage since endless war seems to be the only game plan he and his ultra right-wing allies have for hanging onto power.

Though a relative moderate who was convinced by the October 7 terror attack to join Netanyahu’s emergency wartime coalition government, including a voice on the powerful war cabinet, Gantz has been increasingly marginalized over the last several months, and the ultimatum was his last-ditch effort to change the increasingly self-destructive course Netanyahu and his allies seem set on.

Somewhat ironically, both the hostage families and the US government appear to be united in trying to convince Gantz to stay on in the coalition government as a moderating influence, but those arguments are likely to fall on deaf ears if he thinks he and his party would have more influence from outside the government instead.

On a parallel track, the Jerusalem Post has an article up on the efforts of Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beytenu party in the Knesset to try and form a new “liberal” right-wing coalition to topple Netanyahu’s current Likud coalition of hardline extremists:

The primary goal of the founders of the new right-wing party is to restore it to the original Likud of the days of Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. Lieberman called on Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot to leave Netanyahu's government and join the new party, thus hastening the collapse of the current failed government. ... The new party will also put an end to the phenomenon of "Bibism," which has plagued the Likud and the right-wing sector in Israel. The ultra-Orthodox parties will also suffer greatly from its establishment. While it may not significantly affect them electorally, it will greatly impact their political status as it will disrupt their long-standing partnership with Netanyahu's government in which they benefit from expansive budgets, grants, and exemptions for military service. ... It is no secret that the right in Israel has significantly strengthened in recent years, with the majority of the population leaning towards the right side of the political map, especially after October 7. The problem is that at the head of the right stands a prime minister who has clearly and significantly lost the trust of the majority of right-wing supporters and his standing. However as the right strengthens, the Likud loses significantly in all surveys, which says everything about the government. An important and noteworthy point to mention here is that a new right-wing party will allow, after the next elections, the establishment of a government without the ultra-Orthodox sector. Liberman, Gantz, and Lapid will have no problem joining hands to establish a pragmatic, efficient government in this difficult time. This government will address the many difficulties facing the State of Israel today. It will be a government in which the burden will be shared and the important relationship with the USA will be maintained. The significant failures of the Netanyahu government confirm that it must cease to operate immediately. The summit meeting for the establishment of a new political party has awakened hope for a new era and a different government.

This might sound more than a bit optimistic at this point, but let’s hope this group of Never Netanyahu conservatives have more luck in Israel than our own Never Trumpers have thus far had here in the US.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/8/2245488/-Major-Political-Changes-in-Israel-on-the-Horizon?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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