Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, even after failing to form a government, may opt for a new election rather than let his enemies win. That way, the decision reverts to the voting public rather than the politicians.Netanyahu has had an amazing run, leading four governments at the head of a successful Likud. This time, he is making a dangerous personal gamble. He may calculate that even if some voters make him pay for failing, the outcome is unlikely to be radically different from the April 9 results. The right-wing bloc which he leads may even gain by sweeping up the 300,000 votes that were lost in April when New Right and rightist splinter groups failed to make it past the threshold.
The question is who will benefit? Netanyahu is beset with legions of rivals and foes, some on home ground in Likud. He faces another harsh test of endurance in which they will go all-out to prove that his failure to form a government shows he has lost his celebrated political touch and it’s time for him to go.
Avigdor Lieberman, who parlayed his five-member Yisrael Beitenu into a club for denying Netanyahu’s 35-strong Likud a majority government, will most likely survive. The only substantial change to be expected is the decline of Blue-White, the opposition grouping born shortly before the April election and which came close to beating Likud.
The next time round, Blue-White will have lost its luster as a new alternative for displacing long-running politicians. It is moreover top-heavy with four leaders – Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Gaby Ashkenazi and Moshe Ya’alon – whose entire repertoire consists of one song. Binyamin Netanyahu must go! Even Madonna’s audience demands more variety.
This quartet have tried signaling the Likud party: Get rid of your leader and we can get together for a unity government. Rightist or leftist politics or any other ideology don’t seem to matter, just the removal of the major impediment to their goal. READ MORE
