Understanding what’s going on with Netanyahu requires a knowledge of Israel’s parliamentary procedures I do not possess. But Juan Cole says that last night Netanyahu missed a deadline for forming a new government. And that means the coalition trying to get him out gets a shot at forming a new government. I wish them luck.
The end of Netanyahu is not a sure thing. The opposition coalition claims to have exactly the number of votes, and no more, to take a new majority and establish a new prime minister. Netanyahu is working to get just one of those votes to switch to his side. So it’s not over.
This just in — The Times of Israel reports,
The eight-party coalition that aims to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is appearing increasingly likely to secure the necessary majority support in the Knesset, Israel’s two main news stations reported Friday night.
The assessment among all members of the “change bloc,” led by Prime Minister-designate Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, is that the coalition will indeed be sworn in, Channel 12 said, with a wafer-thin 61-59 majority.
Getting rid of Netanyahu won’t mean getting rid of right-wing pro-settlement leadership, as some of the anti-Netanyahu coalition are hard righties, including the guy likely to be the next PM. But it won’t be Netanyahu.
See also Jennifer Rubin, This is what putting country over party looks like.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens as Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint statement after their meeting at the Prime Minister’s office, Tuesday, May 25, 2021, in Jerusalem, Israel. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Let's be careful what we wish for. Especially people like us, with no skin in the game. I speak for myself, because I know no one in that area. At least not anymore.
I've disliked Bibi since I first got familiar with him reading the paper's back in the early-mid 90's.
But this Bennett guy is a real hard-core Israeli conservative, with a wide and deep hatred for Palestinians.
My analogy of the characters in this drama: Bibi is to tRUMP, as Bennett is to Pat Buchanan.
What will it ever take to finally get a "Two State Resolution?"
Ever?
Told by Jerry Clower…
One night Jerry and Marcel were out with their dogs when they treed a coon up a huge sycamore. Marcel, a firm believer in giving a coon a fighting chance, climbed the tree to shake the coon out. But it wasn't a coon, it was a lynx, and it went after Marcel something terrible. The tree was a-shakin' and a-quiverin' from the battle. Marcel was getting torn up. Finally, desperate, he hollered down at Jerry, "Shoot, shoot, this thang is killin' me." Jerry hollered back, "I'm afraid to shoot, I might hit you". Marcel hollered back down, "Just shoot up here amongst us, one of us has got to have some relief."
I don't know how a new government will work out, but the situation with Bibi is impossible. There's no movement toward a two-state solution. A new government may be no better but could hardly be worse. Any change is movement – any new players present a chance for negotiation and reason. Currently, there's no hope.
So I echo Jerry, "One of us has got to have some relief."
So does the US democracy suffer from having too few political parties and Israel suffer from having too many? It may be easier to put country over party when their are more political parties. Still, hammering out agreements among a divergent coalition takes a skillful politician, and those are not easy to come by.
We are kind of at the point of having one functional political party and a big mess that is not sure if the party wants democracy at all, at least a democracy that lets some groups even have the power to vote. Israel is at the point where to make a functional government they must form a really politically diverse coalition to even function at all. They are therefore enfranchising the smaller groups with at least some level of power.
Wildly different problems for differing ideas of how to implement a democracy. Still, though, the same problem for both, of how to get their democracy to apportion power fairly and govern at the same time.
May both be successful, as democracy itself is having some really tough times.
Both Turkey and Myanmar may have lost theirs completely. Now we have Quay Quay people in this country that want us to follow their lead. Is it not a better idea to follow countries that do a better job of winning?
Yes the good of the country must prevail over the good of the political parties, no matter how many of them you have in your particular brand of democracy. How many parties are the best for a democracy to have remains a great academic challenge. Democracy seems a learn as you go type of government. We need to keep learning to make it work. Let us all hope more of our learning does not have to come from the school of hard knocks. It is a rigid inflexible learning institute at best and it's graduates leave with scars. Still it is the chosen learning institute of too many these days. We hope it is just a fad and will soon go away.
bibi was never anything but money man. cant be sorry to see him go. it does matter what he is replaced by.