To Oust Netanyahu, Israeli Left-wing Parties Are Asked to Accept Right Wing Ideological policies

T. Belman. In other words, Bennet is saying the price of getting rid of Netanyahu is to accept policies based on rightwing ideology. Stiff price indeed.

Members of the anti-Netanyahu bloc fear that if Bennett’s demands aren’t met, he might renege on his wish to form a unity government, and go with Netanyahu in the end

By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ         Apr. 26, 2021 12:06 PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strictly refers to government that may arise to replace him as a left-wing government with a ‘token right-wing leader,’ referring to Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett. But in actuality, left-wing parties have been pushed away from the negotiating table, and decisions are being made without considering their requests.

Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid represents Labor, Meretz and Kahol Lavan in when corresponding with Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, and responsibilities for dividing up portfolios and establishing guidelines for a future government also rest on his shoulders.

Labor and Meretz sources believe they won’t be able to object at the moment of truth to an “Israeli unity government” that would put an end to Netanyahu’s rule, even if it means “swallowing right-wing dictates,” as they put it, aimed at giving Bennett an image boost as an excuse to link up with the anti-Netanyahu camp.

It’s too soon to tell whether the anti-Netanyahu bloc can bridge all the gaps between the left and right-wing parties to establish a government. The negotiations are proceeding slower than media reports suggest.

High-profile lawmakers on the left are warning that a list of decisions may be made above their heads in coalition talks, and leave them facing a fait accomplis: From meeting Bennett’s demands to call the new coalition a center-right government and to give the right-wing parties greater weight in decision making, starting with legislation on military conscription  – which not all lawmakers on the left support – to adopting the Zohar rabbis’ policies as guidelines for issues regarding religion and state.

The reports about attempts to advance the Zohar organization’s policies in a new government have angered Labor’s leader, Merav Michaeli.

“The Labor Party is committed to a new government and unseating Netanyahu, and is committed to the same extent to struggle on behalf of all the values for which it won seven Knesset seats,” she told Haaretz. “The Orthodox organization, Zohar, which is all male, some of whom are on the extreme-right politically, is opposed to these values. I’m sure that a new government would not accept such decisions.”

Michaeli added that the party is relying on Lapid “who is conducting the negotiations on behalf of the anti-Netanyahu bloc’s values, including these seven seats, and the female as well as male voters of Labor.”

Senior Meretz figures, however, have refrained from commenting publicly on the issue in recent days so as to avoid complicating matters with remarks that could risk the option of establishing a coalition without Netanyahu.

Furthermore, Labor, Meretz and Kahol Lavan officials fear being left without any significant cabinet positions. Bennett has demanded assigning “ideological portfolios” to right-wing party members and to give the competing camp only portfolios that wouldn’t hurt his image.

“There’s no reason for the Labor Party, with the same number of seats as Yamina and which won more votes than the New Hope Party, to wind up with only a marginal role in the government,” a senior party official said.

“An Israeli unity government, as Lapid calls it, is a laundered term for a government of ideological paralysis. It cannot advance any diplomatic agenda either left or right due to the conflicting world views of its member parties and won’t be able to advance any changes on religion-state issues for the same reasons.

“Coalition partners will be united mainly about their success in overthrowing Netanyahu, and would primarily advance an economic agenda aimed at helping the country exit the coronavirus crisis.”

In an unusual statement, Labor said on Sunday that its ideological principles, which the party is seeking to advance in any new government, have not been met in coalition talks.

“Unseating Netanyahu is necessary and critical but the day after a new government is sworn in, the party must take steps in accordance with common principles to pass a budget and restore Israel to normalcy,” Labor said.

Members of the anti-Netanyahu bloc are skeptical about whether they will wind up heading any coalition, especially due to the assessments that Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar will surrender to pressure from the right.

“In the political field, Bennett proves his cowardice time and time again,” a left-wing lawmaker said.

“It would surprise no one if he reneges at the last minute on his readiness to set up a government with left-wing parties. It wouldn’t be the first time he walked back on his declarations. In any case, even if Bennett does come around, there’s a great fear that not all of Yamina will follow suit when it comes to putting pen to paper, and that it may not be possible after all to form a government.”

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April 26, 2021 | 1 Comment »

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  1. Netanyahu isn’t leftwing enough for the left or rightwing enough for the right. Could it be that, personal slights, aside, they are all united only in their hatred of him because he is the only actual centrist? Could it also account, in part, for his enduring popularity with the Israeli public? If Israel had ranked choice voting with a separate direct popular election for Prime Minister, He’d win by a landlside. If these results were applied, he already did.