A web of deceit, and Netanyahu pulls the strings

In years to come many Israelis will ponder, some will rage, over how the leader of a party that set for itself the key objective of toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and even adopted the campaign slogan “Just Not Bibi,” ended up crawling into a government that for at least the next 18 months will be led by that very same discredited politician.

The real reasons Benny Gantz and his Blue and White party chose to take such an inexplicable route, and in the process betrayed hundreds of thousands of their supporters who believed he would never sit in government with a man accused of corruption, will probably remain forever a mystery, requiring an explanation more from the world of psychology than of politics.

The formation of a new coalition represents the end of a political vacuum that began at the end of 2018 and lasted for three elections in quick succession, and of interim governments that were in power but lacked the legitimacy of Knesset support. There is also a glimmer of hope that the coalition agreement means the beginning of the end of Netanyahu’s premiership, if the rotation agreed with Gantz materialises. But even as a deputy prime minister Netanyahu would still be the most powerful figure in government, leading by far the largest party and enjoying the support of the other parties in the coalition.

As much as we should welcome the end of a constitutional anomaly and the possible closing chapter of Netanyahu’s time as prime minister, the latest coalition government still represents all that has gone wrong in Israeli society and politics. It embodies dishonesty in politics, a readiness to crush the justice system for political and personal interests, and racism against the Arab-Palestinian majority in its refusal to include them in government; and by agreeing to formally annex parts of the West Bank, it embodies the end of any hope for peace with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. 

Under any other circumstances, without the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic, the agreement between the two major partners in this shameless government to annex parts of the occupied West Bank would have triggered a major uproar at home and an even bigger one abroad. Make no mistake, this development is unprecedented. For the first time, an Israeli government has committed itself to the ideology, agenda and desires of the extreme right wing, which promotes unilateral annexation of territories and settlements. The shrinking peace camp in Israel has rightly expressed its dismay; the EU has warned Israel that there will be negative consequences for relations between the two if annexation happens, and sporadic criticisms from other countries can be heard, but otherwise — almost complete silence.

In a government that includes not only Likud and Blue and White, but also the most right-wing elements in Israeli politics, the annexation of parts of the West Bank is no longer just empty rhetoric, but may become a reality sooner rather than later, perhaps even by the summer. For the settlement movement and their representatives in the government, time is of the essence as they would like to see through this legislation before the US presidential election in November, especially as Trump’s approval ratings are now declining as a result of his mishandling of the coronavirus crisis. If this trend continues there is a real chance that the Democrat contender Joe Biden will be president in nine months’ time, and his administration is likely to take a dim view of any such annexation. Add to this the apathy shown by most of the international community towards the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as the world struggles with the disastrous consequences of the pandemic, and it becomes apparent why those who aspire to bury the chance of a peaceful conclusion to that conflict — at the heart of which is a mutual recognition of each other’s right to self-determination — see a window of  opportunity.

Sadly, they may be reading the situation correctly, at least in the short term, with a delayed price to pay when some degree of normality is restored to the world. However, Egypt and especially Jordan may well suspend their peace agreements with Israel if settlements and the Jordan Valley are annexed. A severe response from Cairo and Amman may also prompt Gulf states that have been cooperating with Israel to reassess those budding relations.

For now, Netanyahu, not for the first time and probably not the last, has manipulated the system to satisfy his hunger for power and serve his unscrupulous attempts to avoid his corruption trial preventing him from staying inn office. Not even his supporters genuinely believe that this is an emergency government formed to deal with the pandemic. An emergency government doesn’t need 34 ministers. What fighting the virus does require is someone powerful and effective at the health ministry, but that has been left in the hands of the utterly failing Yaakov Litzman. He represents the Ultraorthodox community, who disproportionately defy social distancing and therefore suffer from much higher levels of coronavirus infection. Instead of that poison chalice, Gantz and his senior party colleague Gabi Ashkenazi chose the prestigious defense and foreign ministries, which is not where you battle a pandemic.

It is now for the High Court to decide whether this web of deceit, in the form of a coalition agreement aimed at weakening the justice system and letting Netanyahu serve in government while on trial, is constitutional. Common sense dictates that it is not, but as we have learned for well over a year and three elections, Israel’s political system is ruled more by basic instincts than common sense.

• Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is head of the International Relations and Social Sciences Program. He is also an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media. Twitter: @YMekelberg