03 June 2021 09:50
Israel has undoubtedly experienced one of the craziest political days in its history. A day of negotiations that ended a few minutes before midnight, the deadline granted to the opposition to form a majority.
The result is historic: except for new twists (which are not to be excluded) Benjamin Netanyahu will lose power after twelve consecutive years and an overall presence at the helm of the country longer than that of the founder of the state, David Ben Gurion. Hostility towards Netanyahu is the element that unites the incredible coalition of his opponents, who have as their watchword “anyone but Bibi”, the nickname by which he is known in the country.
This coalition ranges from the far right that supports the settlements to the pacifist left, and even counts on the (unprecedented) support of an Islamist party elected by the Palestinians of Israel. The one thing these political forces have in common is the burning desire to get rid of Netanyahu, his divisive presence and his judicial troubles.
What could be the program of such a coalition? Turning the page after Netanyahu is the main ambition of this government, on whose duration it is difficult to bet.
Once the catharsis is accomplished, the coalition seriously risks finding itself faced with its own contradictions, which are many
The problem is that once the catharsis is complete, the coalition seriously risks finding itself faced with its own contradictions, which are many. The mandate to form a government, after four consecutive dead-end elections, was entrusted to centrist Yair Lapid, who had to garner support everywhere: for example, he turned to a former protege of Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, who in exchange for his defection has obtained the promise to be the first to hold the position of head of government, a role in which, according to the agreement, he will alternate with Lapid. Bennett is both a digital millionaire, a former leader of the Jewish settlers of the West Bank, a far-right exponent and a religious-nationalist.
How can a man with such a profile live with Meretz, the last survivor of the secular left, in favor of peace with the Palestinians? And how can the support assigned to the government by Mansour Abbas’s Islamists be explained?
The support of an Islamist leader is the most shocking element. This is a first since the creation of the Jewish state. Mansour Abbas has traced his strategy to that of Jewish religious parties such as the Sephardi Shas, pillar of all governing coalitions, which has negotiated economic benefits for his community. Mansour Abbas did the same, obtaining social benefits for the Palestinian citizens of Israel, those of 1948.
The only certainty, in the aftermath of this unlikely agreement, is that nothing will change in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The argument, in fact, was not even mentioned, as it divides the parties that form the coalition so deeply.
Two weeks after the end of the war with Hamas in Gaza, the issue has already disappeared from the Israeli political agenda, as always obsessed with the character of Benjamin Netanyahu. There will always be time to think about it when Bibi has packed her bags …
(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)
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