Naftali Bennett government made some small steps toward introducing a more secular, centrist and calmer political climate. It’s a shame it didn’t have more time.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett experienced its first (and very possible final) coalition crisis. A relatively obscure coalition member, Idit Silman, said she was leaving the coalition, setting up a tied Knesset.
In some ways it’s a surprise that Bennett’s government lasted this long. His coalition margin (61-59) was improbably narrow, and his reliance on a multi-party coalition of rivals made it too fragile to survive. The triviality of the issue that brought it down was also predictable. Silman resigned over a disagreement about kosher food enforcement by government hospitals during the passover holiday. This will seem strange to foreigners, but Israelis know that wobbly coalitions have often fallen on kosher and/or Sabbath observance controversies that stand in for weightier matters. The underlying issue is the return of Benjamin Netanyahu to the prime minister’s office.
Bennett has done a good job running his coalition of rivals and gave Israelis a sense at what a more centrist government could look like. But he hasn’t been a particularly popular prime minister. Inexperience was one problem. He was not always good at articulating his policies to the public. And, crucially, he suffered from political blindness: He took his eye off Netanyahu.
On Wednesday, Bibi called on additional members of the ruling coalition to defect and form a new government with him at the head. There is a fair chance this will happen. It’s not only right-wingers in Bennett’s anti-Bibi coalition might be tempted. Ambitious and frustrated centrists (Defence Minister Benny Gantz’s name comes up most often) who could give a new Likud government a wider public base may also wish to join.
Read the article by Zev Chafets in the Financial Review.