“This really is a fight for political survival,” insists Middle East relations expert Osamah Khalil. His foes don’t just want to remove Netanyahu as prime minister, they want to crush him into the dust. The Syracuse University professor explains that the Deep State coalition wants “to end his political career.”
The fight isn’t over yet
“It’s not over ’till it’s over” in Israeli politics and “Bibi Netanyahu in particular,” Ilan Goldenberg assures. He worked on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at the State Department for Obama.
Right now, the stakes could not be higher for Benjamin Netanyahu. Sunday’s vote may “strip him” of his prime minister position and relegate him to an opposition figure. He’s in much the same fight as Once and Future President Donald Trump, politically exiled to Florida, for now.
“It’s happening!” centrist party leader Yair Lapid tweeted when the vote was scheduled. He’s chief broker of the coalition deal. “The unity government is launching for the benefit of the citizens of the State of Israel.” Despite his optimism, the outcome of the fight “remains uncertain.” Netanyahu and his allies “continue a campaign to derail the ‘odd-bedfellows’ alliance.” The new Jewish government has a surprising Arab faction.
On Sunday, Israel’s parliament is set to cast a historic vote. They could decide to put an end to “Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure as prime minister.” Replacing him with the “change coalition” which is full of “hard-line factions, centrists and an Arab party.” That’s a historic first for the Israelis.
Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are expected to share the power after the dust clears from the fight. Bennett will be running the show as prime minister for the first two years and Lapid would serve for the next two years. That’s all part of their coalition agreement.
Both will represent “a radical departure in terms of style and experience” from Netanyahu. “He has both dominated and personalized Israeli politics in an unprecedented way,” Michael Koplow said. He’s director at the Israel Policy Forum, which advocates for a “two-state solution.”
A watershed moment
Mid-east expert Khalil is amazed that the conservative Islamist Ra’am party led by Mansour Abbas will have a key role in the proposed new government. “It is a watershed moment,” Khalil notes. The fight will still be bloody though.
It may be a “Nixon-goes-to-China” pivot in Israeli politics.” The move makes it easier “for future Israeli politicians to join forces with Arab parties after the hard-line Bennett took that first step.”
The fight that’s been going on for centuries could come to a conclusion, but not the one everyone expected.
“This isn’t just cosmetic,” If Abbas “is able to address inequities and improve policing in the Arab sector,” it could start things like “increased turnout among Arab-Israelis in future elections and create more pressure for future governments to include Arab parties.”
Just like in America, it’s a fight between conservatives and the evil deep state forces of global darkness, like the Democrats. “The one thing holding this coalition together is a mutual disdain of Netanyahu,” Khalil said. “And not much else.”
The same way that Donald Trump remains Deplorable-in-Chief no matter what Joe Biden wants to call himself. In order to go through. The new coalition will need to win at least 61 votes in the 120-member Knesset. It’s going to be a close vote on Sunday.
