Time to go from promises to compromises - analysis
Strangely enough, the problem in Israel over the past year has not been that politicians have lied. It has been that they have been telling the truth.
By GIL HOFFMANIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on as he delivers a statement during his visit at the Health Ministry national hotline, in Kiryat Malachi, Israel March 1, 2020(photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)
After incumbent Shimon Peres lost the 1996 election for prime minister that he was expected to win, he infamously said, “In Israel, people tell the truth in the polls and lie in the ballot box.”The winner of that election was current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who – according to exit polls Monday night – was indicated to get another chance to form a government and end the political stalemate.Strangely enough, the problem in Israel over the past year has not been that politicians have lied. It has been that they have been telling the truth.They said during election campaigns they would rule out coalitions with their rivals, and then they surprised all by maintaining their principles and keeping their promises when the elections were over.When President Reuven Rivlin called the third election “disgusting” on Monday, he indicated that now is the time not for promises but for compromises.Voters indicated with their high turnout on Monday they want the politicians to stop running after 15 months and start governing. They want their candidates to stop working for themselves and start working for the people.As predicted in Friday’s Jerusalem Post, the sector that decided the race were the “stability voters,” whose top priority was preventing a fourth election.When Netanyahu formed other governments, he first sought a left-wing fig leaf, like Peres, Ehud Barak or Tzipi Livni. This time, due to his corruption trial that will start March 17, no such fig leaf is available.Netanyahu will first reunite his right-wing and religious bloc and then try to add an independent MK like Orly Levy-Abecassis, whose father, David Levy, was a Likud minister. He will also target Blue and White MK Omer Yankelevich, whose future in the party is in doubt after she was caught criticizing her party leader, Benny Gantz.The question now is how involved Rivlin wants to be after getting burned in his mediation efforts following the September race. It will certainly be hard for him to give Netanyahu a third chance to form a government, given his personal animosity toward the prime minister.
The last hope for Gantz could be passing a bill before a government is formed making it illegal for a prime minister to serve during his trial. That, of course, could only happen if Gantz keeps his promise not to join a Netanyahu-led government.The best advice to Gantz could be to not repeat Peres’s most famous quote: “Am I a loser?”
