(The Media Line) Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu launched an unprecedented attack against fellow right-wing politician and former aide Naftali Bennett, accusing him of singlehandedly foiling a right-wing government and “sprinting toward a dangerous leftist coalition.”
“You’re spitting in the face of democracy, in the face of your pre-election promises. You’re only playing for time, you’ve already closed a deal with Lapid,” Netanyahu said Wednesday evening in a public statement to the press.
The harsh words underscored Netanyahu’s desperation.
With two weeks left before his mandate to form a government expires, the embattled prime minister seems to have realized that his path to a fifth consecutive term is blocked, and in the time remaining appears to be shifting focus to his secondary goal – thwarting any attempts by political rivals to establish alternative coalitions.
“A government headed by Bennett would be undemocratic, illegitimate. It’s the opposite of what the public wants,” he said.
Moments earlier, Bennett, who has in recent days has negotiated with Netanyahu, rejected the prime minister’s claims.
“I told him he has our support for a right-wing government. Netanyahu, go for it, we’re behind you!” Bennett said in a statement to the press ahead of Netanyahu. “But if he fails, I won’t allow a fifth election. Yes, I will try to create a unity government, a stable, functioning coalition where my principles and values will be maintained.”
Earlier this month, following Israel’s fourth election in two years, Netanyahu was once again tapped by President Reuven Rivlin to establish a government after receiving the most seats in the March contest.
As expected, his task turned out to be practically insurmountable.
After failing to secure a cohesive 61-seat majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, Netanyahu was forced to try and fuse his extreme right-wing allies with the United Arab List, an Islamist party that serves as the political wing of the Southern Branch of Israel’s Islamic movement.
The United Arab List has not ruled out joining Netanyahu’s bloc in return for favorable legislation and funds that would be directed toward the country’s Arab minority, suffering from skyrocketing crime and unemployment.
Yet these long-shot attempts have so far come up short, with the right-wing Religious Zionism party refusing to join Arab lawmakers, forcing the prime minister to propose desperate measures.
He’s forced to switch from someone who is forming a government to almost an opposition leader, putting speedbumps in the way of others’ attempts.
“The only solution for this political logjam is snap direct elections for the office of prime minister only, without dispersing parliament,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday, referring to a draft introduced in parliament by his allies earlier this week.
“It’s either that, or a leftist government headed by Lapid and Bennett, these are the only two options,” he said.
But Bennett in his statement swatted down the initiative.
“Netanyahu wants one thing, fifth elections, in the ruse of a ‘direct election.’ His thinking is: ‘If I can’t have a government, no one can,’” Bennett said, adding: “Israel will not be taken hostage by any politician.”
If Netanyahu fails to swear in a government in the remaining two weeks of his mandate, Rivlin can either hand another lawmaker, presumably Lapid or Bennett, a month of their own to try and present a government, or pass the decision on to parliament itself, essentially ensuring a fifth election cycle in two and half years.
“Netanyahu’s in a situation right now where he doesn’t have any other choice but to obstruct his opponents,” Aviv Bushinsky, a former adviser to Netanyahu in his first term as prime minister and chief of staff for Netanyahu when he served as finance minister, told The Media Line. “He’s forced to switch from someone who is forming a government to almost an opposition leader, putting speedbumps in the way of others’ attempts.”
The alternative, anti-Netanyahu coalition, consisting of Bennett’s Yamina and Lapid’s Yesh Atid parties, along with a handful of right-wing lawmakers and ex-Likud members and center-left and liberal parties, could theoretically swear in a government if given the chance, despite overwhelming ideological differences.
“It comes down to Bennett, he has to decide whether he is made of butter or steel,” Yossi Levy, another past consultant to Netanyahu, told The Media Line.
“Netanyahu’s rivals are finally starting to show the first signs of political competence. They have to understand they’re facing a man who will stop at nothing,” Levy said.
The bill calling for snap direct elections for the office of prime minister in 30 days’ time is unlikely to pass in parliament, where Netanyahu does not hold a majority.
“It’s mostly aimed at allowing him to control the news cycle, to show he’s still active, maintain his validity,” Bushinsky says of the maneuver. “It also helps him with the blame game, so he can accuse Bennett of preferring a ‘leftist’ government when Bennett opposes” the bill.
Netanyahu’s rivals are finally starting to show first signs of political competence. They have to understand they’re facing a man who will stop at nothing.
Other ploys, like Netanyahu being voted as Rivlin’s replacement when the president’s term ends in June, or Netanyahu stepping aside and appointing another Likud lawmaker as a puppet-prime minister, also reportedly have been discussed by the premier’s advisers.
“There is absolutely zero chance of those two happening,” Levy said. “He’s not going to voluntarily leave Balfour,” the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem.
“Once he’s out of there, he loses all power to affect his legal proceedings and prevent future investigations from cropping up,” he added.
Netanyahu is currently facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
The precarious position of Israel’s longest-tenured prime minister was demonstrated on Monday, when he suffered a stinging defeat in parliament’s first vote since the March elections.
The bloc led by Lapid managed to wrest control of the legislature’s crucial Arrangements Committee, which temporarily governs parliament while no government exists.
“He’s definitely in a difficult position, but I wouldn’t draft any obituaries just yet,” Levy cautions. “He still has 13 days which is an eternity. In politics, things have a knack of getting done at the last second.”
“But there are definitely encouraging signs for his opponents. They must learn that you can’t beat a heavyweight boxing champion by playing by Wimbledon tennis rules,” he also said.
Added Bushinsky: “This is the worst position he’s been in since regaining the office in 2009. It’s still early, but last time when he lost [in the 1999 elections] he went away to rehabilitate his image with the intention of returning.”
“This time he won’t leave,” he said. “He’s hoping this ‘change’ government will be short-lived, because of all its conflicting elements. If that happens, his comeback campaign will have already been written for him – ‘I Told You So.’”
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