With the welcome cease fire in Israel-Palestine, it looks like Bibi Netanyahu has achieved his near term goal of remaining prime minister of Israel, thus not only remaining power but also out of jail, with barely anybody noticing that he has done this. His rival, Yair Lapid, who was invited by President Reuvan Rivlin to form a government, was hoping to cut a deal with the Israeli-Arab members of the Knesset, but that is now out of the question, so Bibi gets to stay in office. There will probably need to be another election.
And while there is officially a cease fire, this has not kept the Israeli security forces from further attacking people in the al-Aqsa mosque compound, which triggered the outbreak of this short war initially.
Barkley Rosser
Yair Lapid...was hoping to cut a deal with the Israeli-Arab members of the Knesset, but that is now out of the question
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt that you're correct about that, but why should it out of the question? This could very likely be the last opportunity that Israeli-Arab members of the Knesset have to kick Bibi Nut-and-Yahoo out of office and into prison. Not forming a coalition to oust Bibi only plays into the hands of Bibi and Hamas. So much for rational actors.
2slug,
ReplyDeleteThey might wish to, but with the Israeli Arabs demonstrating, other right-wing parties Lapid would need will now not have anything to do with a government organized with any support of those Israeli Arabs. There has never been such a government in Israel, but with the long stalemate it looked like it might happen. But Bibi knew how to scuttle that by sending in forces to would 330 in the al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan.
It looks like he only succeeded in stalling his ouster. Reports have it that by Wednesday a new government will be in place organized by Lapid, with Bennet on board, the crucial player. However, details still being worked out. But nobody wants another election so soon. So, Bibi is out and probably not able now to start another war to distract everybody. His time is up.
ReplyDelete