10-23-2019, 01:44 PM
Israel's Government Remains in Limbo
Benjamin Netanyahu threw in the towel on his stalled bid for a fifth premiership, which has opened up a possible route to power for his rival, the centre-right army-chief-turned-politician Benny Gantz.
Israel has been in political limbo since an April election that saw both Mr Netanyahu’s Likud and rival parties fail to secure enough seats to form a coalition government. Netanyahu was strongly endorsed by U.S. President Trump.
The country's Joint List of Arab parties, which represents about 20% of the population, performed better than in the past due to what was characterized as Netanyahu's race-baiting anti-Arab campaign.
The JLA parties threw their support behind Gantz instead (not that they love him, but more as a vote for the lesser of two evils, as I understand it). The JLA has used its 13 seats to thwart Netanyahu's effort to form a new government.
So........President Reuven Rivlin will this week ask Mr Gantz to try to find 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset to back his own bid for the premiership.
It is possible that with 33 seats for his neophyte Blue and White alliance, and potential anti-Netanyahu allies under his wing, Mr Gantz could conceivably form a minority government, with the support of the Joint List of Arab parties.
However, if he fails to do so within 28 days (which he probably will), the country will be headed for an unprecedented third election within a year unless Netanyahu and Gantz agree to work together.
Refs:
https://www.foxnews.com/world/benny-gant...hu-failure
https://www.ft.com/content/dd38f056-f495...f8794b17c6
Benjamin Netanyahu threw in the towel on his stalled bid for a fifth premiership, which has opened up a possible route to power for his rival, the centre-right army-chief-turned-politician Benny Gantz.
Israel has been in political limbo since an April election that saw both Mr Netanyahu’s Likud and rival parties fail to secure enough seats to form a coalition government. Netanyahu was strongly endorsed by U.S. President Trump.
The country's Joint List of Arab parties, which represents about 20% of the population, performed better than in the past due to what was characterized as Netanyahu's race-baiting anti-Arab campaign.
The JLA parties threw their support behind Gantz instead (not that they love him, but more as a vote for the lesser of two evils, as I understand it). The JLA has used its 13 seats to thwart Netanyahu's effort to form a new government.
So........President Reuven Rivlin will this week ask Mr Gantz to try to find 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset to back his own bid for the premiership.
It is possible that with 33 seats for his neophyte Blue and White alliance, and potential anti-Netanyahu allies under his wing, Mr Gantz could conceivably form a minority government, with the support of the Joint List of Arab parties.
However, if he fails to do so within 28 days (which he probably will), the country will be headed for an unprecedented third election within a year unless Netanyahu and Gantz agree to work together.
Refs:
https://www.foxnews.com/world/benny-gant...hu-failure
https://www.ft.com/content/dd38f056-f495...f8794b17c6