Analysis
An identical coalition debates the same issues after the election as it did before
For Benjamin Netanyahu, issues like the yeshiva 'draft law' pick up precisely where he left them before the election
April 17, 2019 14:04
2 min read
For Benjamin Netanyahu, issues like the yeshiva 'draft law' pick up precisely where he left them before the election
April 17, 2019 14:04By 11am this Tuesday, it was already over. Representatives of five of the parties meeting President Reuven Rivlin had recommended Likud’s candidate as prime minister, giving Benjamin Netanyahu 61 endorsements, a Knesset majority.
The rest of the president’s meetings with the parties are now just for protocol. Before the week is over and Israel enters a week-long Pesach stupor, Mr Rivlin will summon Mr Netanyahu and confer upon him the task of forming of an Israeli government for the fifth time in his political career.
He will have 28 days to complete the task — followed by another 21, if necessary — before Mr Rivlin must give someone else a chance. There is little doubt that Mr Netanyahu will succeed, given his partners have committed to supporting him, but many observers believe he will need the full four weeks, if not the extra three.
The makeup of the new Netanyahu government will essentially be identical to the previous one, comprised of the same six parties, but there are obstacles new and old to overcome.
First is the much-delayed “draft law” regulating national service for yeshiva students. Such a law already exists, prepared by previous Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is adamant that “not one comma” be changed or he will stay out of the coalition. But the Charedi parties, especially the Chassidic Agudath Yisrael faction of United Torah Judaism, are demanding major changes .
Shas and UTJ have 16 seats together; Mr Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu has only five but that is enough to deny the government a majority.
This is currently the biggest headache facing Mr Netanyahu in building his coalition but others exist in the shape of the ministerial portfolios his partners are demanding.
Essentially, they want a “copy & paste” formula that keeps the ones they had in the previous government. With Shas and UTJ, who have both grown in number but are not asking for more ministries, this will be pretty straightforward.
But the Union of Right-Wing Parties, with fewer seats than the number previously held by Jewish Home, still wants to retain the powerful education and justice portfolios.
Mr Lieberman insists on being reappointed while Moshe Kahlon, whose Kulanu dropped from ten seats to only four, has made it clear he will join the government only if he remains finance minister.
Mr Netanyahu may be inclined to go along with these demands but it will create discord within Likud, where senior MKs believe the party’s growth to 35 seats, and its fourth consecutive election victory, should result in it claiming the heftier portfolios.
Mr Kahlon’s demands may be the most problematic as he is the only party leader in the coalition to have publicly said he will not remain in the government if the prime minister is charged in court.
Could he change his position in exchange for staying put at finance or is there a chance he will bow out, pushing the coalition majority to a threadbare 61?
