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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
IS BIBI’S REIGN OVER? BY D. HART
“I
n those days, Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” While this famous passage from Sefer Shoftim described the anarchy and chaos that prevailed three millennia ago in Judea, it could easily have been talking about the modern State of Israel. It’s been less than a year since Israel got its first government in two years. In May, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz agreed to form a national unity coalition with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Coming after the country went to the polls an unprecedented three times, the two rivals decided to end the endless rounds of electioneering and work together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the agreement, Netanyahu was to have stayed on as prime minister for 18 months, followed by Gantz taking the helm. The government was split evenly between the right-wing bloc led by Likud and Blue and White, with the latter getting control of key portfolios such as Justice,
Defense, and Foreign Ministries. Since then, it’s become abundantly clear that Israel may have gotten a government but the actual governing is nowhere to be found. The coalition was marred by infighting from the very first day, with Likud and Blue and White bickering over issues big and small. One senior minister compared it to a “wagon being pulled by obstinate mules running in opposite directions”; while the right-wing sought to reform the judicial system, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkoren labored to give Israel’s legal oligarchy as much power as he possibly could. With COVID-19 raging, the government couldn’t even agree on the most basic of issues. Rather than work together to stop the pandemic from spreading, the two sides actively undermined each other at every opportunity. When Health Minister Yuli Edelstein proposed capping demonstrations, Blue and White resisted as to not disturb the tens of thousands of people who
protested every Saturday evening against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Upon attempting to raise the fines for schools that flouted the lockdown, Gantz found himself stymied by the charedi parties who feared for their Talmud Torahs and yeshivas. Matters came to a head during a contentious cabinet meeting in November in which ministers were tasked with deciding whether to reopen schools at the end of the third lockdown. But little more than halfway into the marathon eight-hour debate, tensions exploded. Both Gantz and Netanyahu lost their cool, each accusing the other of willfully subordinating the country’s needs to his own political future. “Why did we hold a meeting if there are no decisions? We sat for three hours and heard briefings, and now it’s being taken off [the agenda],” thundered Gantz. “This is going nowhere. It’s a shame we didn’t make preparations ahead of time. These discussions can’t go on like this.
