Is Netanyahu’s offer to Gantz a manipulation or a compromise? - analysis
What Netanyahu has not offered is to give up on his 55-seat bloc of right-wing parties, which includes Shas, UTJ, Bayit Yehudi and New Right.
By LAHAV HARKOVBlue and White leader Benny Gantz greets Likud leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two days after Israel’s Election Day(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer of a compromise with Blue and White’s Benny Gantz on matters of religion and state was reported with much fanfare on Thursday.This compromise, together with the latest news that Gantz is considering accepting a rotation in which Netanyahu takes a prolonged break from the premiership to deal with his legal woes, may have been the key to finally forming a coalition – if it had really been a compromise.“I called MK Gantz and offered him a compromise outline to establish a broad national-unity government,” Netanyahu said. “This is the only government we can establish now, and this is the only government we must establish now.”Still, the religion and state compromise is less than it seems, which is likely why Gantz called it “an offer I can’t help but refuse.”Netanyahu didn’t mention religion and state policy, but sources in multiple parties have confirmed that was at least part of the outline.The sources said the compromise consists of granting Blue and White – along with the rest of the parties in the coalition – veto power over any laws on the subject.That’s exactly where this goes from genuinely reaching out to the other side for compromise to something that is little more than spin.Every coalition agreement in Netanyahu’s last decade in power has given all member parties veto power over matters of religion and state.In the last government, center-right party Kulanu, now merged with Likud, occasionally exercised it, as did Yisrael Beytenu. It usually ended up as a starting-off point for debates with Shas and United Torah Judaism on the policies they tried to push.What Netanyahu has not offered is to give up on his 55-seat bloc of right-wing parties, which includes Shas, UTJ, Bayit Yehudi and New Right.
And that is where this goes from spin to manipulation.If a government that includes Blue and White, but also Shas and UTJ, gives every member party veto power over matters of religion state, it means stagnation. Each side would veto the other’s proposals and no new laws on the topic would be passed.In addition, the agreement for there to be freedom for coalition members to vote their conscience on haredi enlistment in the IDF, rather than leaving any government that votes to increase enlistment, was the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties’ quiet policy throughout the enlistment bill debate that raged throughout 2018 and was one of the factors leading to early elections.If UTJ really agreed to this, then the change would only be in Agudat Yisrael, the haredi party within the Ashkenazi-haredi bloc, which was the holdout on quietly allowing the enlistment law to pass. Their opposition in 2018 put Degel Hatorah, which comprises the rest of UTJ, and Shas in a public-relations bind, making them look like they don’t care as much about Torah study over military service.The significant change here is that both Shas and UTJ have now agreed to sit with Blue and White even though the party includes their archenemy Yair Lapid.Credit for that can go to head of the Shas Council of Torah Sages Rabbi Shalom Cohen, who promised Lapid and Liberman access to heaven if they join a government with religious parties.Jokes abounded after that speech on Tuesday night, but for politicians who just went through two election campaigns in one year, avoiding a third just may be a heavenly offer.But Blue and White has made clear that this non-compromise is not enough to get them there.At the same time, Gantz indicated that even a true compromise would not be enough for his party.Notably, Gantz said in his response to Netanyahu’s offer that he will wait until he is given the mandate to form a government, which will likely be next Thursday, to negotiate.Which means that coalition talks remain stalled, regardless of what Netanyahu would offer.c
