Benjamin Netanyahu has met his political eclipse. A shocking comedown for Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister whose Likud Party had won the third election in 2019 though its leader has been wallowing in the mire of corruption. By any reckoning, Monday’s dramatic development signifies an astonishing turnaround in Middle East politics.
Israeli political parties have backed the opposition leader, Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White party, to form a government. This has been a shocking blow to Netanyahu after he appeared to come out ahead in an election held earlier this month. It was a dramatic coincidence too that the change of guard in Tel- Aviv was directed by the President as a Jerusalem court postponed the Prime Minister’s corruption trial due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Arguably, the new government will suffer from an inbuilt fragility as the support that Gantz has won is decidedly wafer-thin. Leaders of the main parties met Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin, on Sunday, giving Gantz what has been called the “slimmest advantage” of 61 recommendations from a total of 120 lawmakers.
There may be hope yet for Netanyahu as there is no guarantee that Gantz will lead Israel’s next administration. For the change to fructify, the latter has up to six weeks of negotiations to forge a majority coalition in the Knesset. The outlook in Israel is rather uncertain.
Though Gantz was officially picked by the President as Prime Ministerdesignate on Monday, some of the politicians who backed him on Sunday may not agree to join his government. Fifteen of the recommendations came from an alliance of Arab parties, which may have supported Gantz to damage Netanyahu’s prospects.
It is unclear if the so-called Joint List group, a merger of politicians predominantly representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, will join an administration helmed by Gantz, a former army chief with whom they have profound ideological differences.
For a year, Israel has been in a state of political paralysis following three inconclusive elections, the latest of which was held on 2 March. Both Netanyahu and Gantz had been picked to form governments, but the endeavour was abortive. Throughout the crisis,
Netanyahu has remained interim Prime Minister. With neither Netanyahu nor Gantz commanding a majority of support, the President has urged them to agree on a power-sharing unity deal.
He summoned them for an emergency meeting on Sunday night in the hope of breaking the deadlock. Governance in Israel is in a state of suspended animation. Nothing is definite at this juncture though there is a scintilla of hope for Benny Gantz.
