Efforts to form a new government continued over the weekend despite the violence that shook the Temple Mount, and the violence continued in Jerusalem regardless of the coalition talks.
Ra’am (United Arab List) head Mansour Abbas condemned the violence, but as an MK with hopes of a coalition role, he could only issue an empty threat.
“Al-Aqsa is a redline,” Abbas said on Saturday. “The aggression toward the holy site and its worshipers is unacceptable and offensive.”
Now imagine what would have happened had the violence taken place days after the signing of the coalition deal instead of days before it.
Abbas’s four votes supporting the coalition from outside are not only the key to establishing a new government, they are also the key to maintaining it. Without Ra’am, there will be no majority to pass a state budget or any legislation at all.
So if violence breaks out after the government is formed, Abbas will not only be able to scream about it like every other MK, he could demand that the new public security minister instruct the police to change their decisions immediately.
Like every other party that would support the new government, Abbas has issued his demands.
He has promised to focus on economic issues for the Arab population, and his main demand is to build a new city for them in the South. He has made a point of never bringing up the Palestinians and staying away from security issues.
But al-Aqsa is al-Aqsa, and it should surprise no one that he has called it a redline. If Abbas decides to prevent his redline from being crossed, no one will tell him his demand is not listed in the coalition agreement.
This could happen any day over the four and a half years the government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid would last by law if it is not toppled early.
The same holds true for the coalition’s most extreme MKs in Yamina or New Hope on the Right or in Meretz from the Zionist Left. With a narrow coalition of 61 MKs counting Ra’am, every MK could decide to cause an uproar.
So even after a government is formed and its ministers celebrate the ousting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there will still be plenty of problems along the way.
Sooner or later, they will realize that reality is stronger than any coalition deal.