2021 Israeli Elections IV: Now Without Netanyahu

[Shrillland]

Rivlin has instructed Bibi to attempt to form a government.

So the trial will halt...again.

[Termiopolis]

Intermittant trial:

Try to form a government
Try Netanyahu

Try to form a government
Try Netanyahu

and so forth

It's important that the trial has started. That way, it's starting date is well within the term for the prosecution of the charges.

[Arisyan]

Well, it appears we are once again at a deadlock given that the pro-Netanyahu block and anti-Netanyahu block both don't have a workable majority. And the Arab parties won't enter government with either of them, so looks like we're heading to the polls again in September.

The final vote tallies for Prime Minister were 52 for Netanyahu, 45 for Lapid and 7 for Bennet, who stated that he somehow wishes to become PM. As you can see, the Arab parties abstained given that Ra'Am doesn't like Lapid and the Joint List doesn't want to support Lapid because of Bennet. Even so, Lapid still needs to get support from New Hope which that in itself would be difficult, so we once again have a deadlock.

[Philjia]

Allegedly Bennett has said he's open to a coalition with Ra'am.

[Thermodolia]

Allegedly Bennett has said he's open to a coalition with Ra'am.

Hate for Bibi is stronger than ethnic and religious divides.

So if that’s true then the anti-Bibi bloc would have 62 if you add Labor and Meretz.

If that works then the coalition will probably last long enough until the trial is over and Bibi is no longer in power.

[Shrillland]

Allegedly Bennett has said he's open to a coalition with Ra'am.

Hate for Bibi is stronger than ethnic and religious divides.

So if that’s true then the anti-Bibi bloc would have 62 if you add Labor and Meretz.

If that works then the coalition will probably last long enough until the trial is over and Bibi is no longer in power.

That's all they'd need. After that, a fifth election would be the last since Likud would no longer have him dragging them down.

[Kowani]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

[Shrillland]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

Wasn't that a failure the last time Israel tried it?

[Kowani]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

Wasn't that a failure the last time Israel tried it?

there seems to be an appetite for it this time

Support for implementing a direct election for Prime Minister

Support: 48%
Oppose: 39%

[Kowani]

we got a new seat projection

Likud (Conservative): 30
YA (Liberal): 19 (+2)
Shas (Haredi|Right): 9
Labor (Centre-left): 8 (+1)
UTJ (Haredi|Right): 7
YB (Right): 7

[Huldregard]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

The man is delusionally obsessed with retaining power.

[Pasong Tirad]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

The article doesn't seem to explain it. What does a direct election mean? Another general election? Or just a vote in parliament?

[Kowani]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

The article doesn't seem to explain it. What does a direct election mean? Another general election? Or just a vote in parliament?

from my understanding, the voters themselves would directly choose a PM, rather than the parties

[Fahran]

Netanyahu gives up on coalition government, will seek direct election as PM

The man is delusionally obsessed with retaining power.

I'm not certain I'd characterize him as delusional. His party have managed to maintain a plurality and have been closer to outright winning the election than any of the scattered opposition parties. I believe at several points all that would have been needed is the support of Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu. He'd likely have a strong chance of winning a direct election if Israeli citizens chose to overlook his egregious penchant for corruption and self-preservation.

[Ethel mermania]

The man is delusionally obsessed with retaining power.

I'm not certain I'd characterize him as delusional. His party have managed to maintain a plurality and have been closer to outright winning the election than any of the scattered opposition parties. I believe at several points all that would have been needed is the support of Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu. He'd likely have a strong chance of winning a direct election if Israeli citizens chose to overlook his egregious penchant for corruption and self-preservation.

What i don't understand, with a minority government what happens when the inevitable vote of no confidence happens?

[Y-ugh]

I'm not certain I'd characterize him as delusional. His party have managed to maintain a plurality and have been closer to outright winning the election than any of the scattered opposition parties. I believe at several points all that would have been needed is the support of Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu. He'd likely have a strong chance of winning a direct election if Israeli citizens chose to overlook his egregious penchant for corruption and self-preservation.

What i don't understand, with a minority government what happens when the inevitable vote of no confidence happens?

Hence the direct PM election:

You (Knesset) can't fire me, I have a mandate from the people!

Basically, he's putting himself above parliamentary scrutiny - which is why I suspect there won't be a majority for his proposal to hold these elections.

[Kowani]

Yamina's Bennett meets Ra’am chief Abbas amid effort to form a government without Netanyahu

Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett met Wednesday with Ra’am party chief Mansour Abbas in the first-ever political contact between the leaders of the two parties, amid ongoing efforts to form a government without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

Bennett’s right-wing party and Abbas’s Islamist faction have initiated unlikely cooperation lately in the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee, and the ties have gained steam as Netanyahu’s mandate to form a government nears its end. Both parties are the only ones that in last month’s elections refused to back either Netanyahu’s right wing-religious bloc or the rival “change bloc” that seeks to oust him. Ra’am said in a statement following the meeting at Bennett’s Knesset office that the discussion dealt with the positions of both parties regarding the current political events, and was “conducted in a positive atmosphere.”

An unnamed member of the “change bloc” was quoted by Channel 12 news as saying “significant progress” had been made in coalition talks over the previous day.

After meeting Abbas, Bennett reportedly met New Hope party chief Gideon Sa’ar, while the latter’s No. 2, Ze’ev Elkin, met Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid. Religious Zionism party head Bezalel Smotrich assailed Bennett over his meeting with Abbas, whose party is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and rejects Zionism.

“A government with Abbas is like a government with Hamas,” said the far-right Smotrich.

Smotrich said Bennett would become an outcast on the right if he formed a government with Ra’am, the same way former premier Ariel Sharon was when he decided to evacuate Israel’s settlements from Gaza in 2005.

Smotrich has thwarted the option of Netanyahu himself relying on Ra’am to form a government, but the premier’s efforts to court Abbas’s support have lent his rivals greater public legitimacy to work with the Arab party, which has never been part of any government.

Just six days remain for Netanyahu to try and form a government before he is required to return the mandate to do so to President Reuven Rivlin.

On Monday, Bennett and Sa’ar expressed caution over ongoing negotiations to form a unity government, admitting that significant gaps remained between them and the centrist Yesh Atid party, but party leader Lapid insisted that they were still bridgeable.

While Bennett said he would be thrilled if Netanyahu managed to cobble together a coalition, Sa’ar maintained his position that he would not serve under the Likud leader and that the premier would have to step aside.

While admitting it wasn’t their ideal scenario, Bennett and Sa’ar both said that they were prepared to join a unity coalition with Yesh Atid and the left-leaning Labor and Meretz parties.Insisting that a another election would be catastrophic for the economy, Lapid said that it would be possible to reach an agreement to form a unity government within a week or ten days. “We, for our part, will do everything,” he said.

Once the mandate is returned, Rivlin will have several options, including tasking the next lawmaker in line — opposition leader Lapid.

A Bennett-Lapid government would be based on a rotation of the premiership between Lapid and Bennett, according to Hebrew media reports. However, Bennett is said to be facing reluctance from within his own right-wing party to cooperate with Lapid, and some of his Yamina’s seven lawmakers may not agree to join such a coalition, Channel 12 news reported. That would further hamper Lapid’s efforts to build a viable coalition.

Should no government be formed, the country will head to its fifth election in two and a half years.

[Shrillland]

Yamina's Bennett meets Ra’am chief Abbas amid effort to form a government without Netanyahu

snip

Well, roping Abbas in would get them over the top if they could get Sa'ar as well, but I don't think the two would want to work together. Smotrich is right in a sense, in terms of Islamism, Ra'am is simply too incompatible with the rest of the Knesset.

[Ethel mermania]

Yamina's Bennett meets Ra’am chief Abbas amid effort to form a government without Netanyahu

snip

Well, roping Abbas in would get them over the top if they could get Sa'ar as well, but I don't think the two would want to work together. Smotrich is right in a sense, in terms of Islamism, Ra'am is simply too incompatible with the rest of the Knesset.

True, but a short term alliance just to get Netanyahu to trial would be well worth the 5th election thread

[Sphingizeh]

Well, roping Abbas in would get them over the top if they could get Sa'ar as well, but I don't think the two would want to work together. Smotrich is right in a sense, in terms of Islamism, Ra'am is simply too incompatible with the rest of the Knesset.

True, but a short term alliance just to get Netanyahu to trial would be well worth the 5th election thread

It is beyond absurd that one man is banking on the incompatibility of all his opponents to force his continued power.

It is even more absurd that his opponents are willing to make a dal with whomever they regard as the Devil just to stop that one man.

And it is downright sad that everybody knows Israel is heading for another round of elections as soon as Netanyahu has been locked up. But no-one dares to say that out loud, it seems.

[Ethel mermania]

True, but a short term alliance just to get Netanyahu to trial would be well worth the 5th election thread

It is beyond absurd that one man is banking on the incompatibility of all his opponents to force his continued power.

It is even more absurd that his opponents are willing to make a dal with whomever they regard as the Devil just to stop that one man.

And it is downright sad that everybody knows Israel is heading for another round of elections as soon as Netanyahu has been locked up. But no-one dares to say that out loud, it seems.

The downside of parliamentary democracy. Say what you will about the American system, it at least gives you a decisive result.

[Shrillland]

True, but a short term alliance just to get Netanyahu to trial would be well worth the 5th election thread

It is beyond absurd that one man is banking on the incompatibility of all his opponents to force his continued power.

It is even more absurd that his opponents are willing to make a dal with whomever they regard as the Devil just to stop that one man.

And it is downright sad that everybody knows Israel is heading for another round of elections as soon as Netanyahu has been locked up. But no-one dares to say that out loud, it seems.

Thankfully, the elections after Netanyahu's imprisonment will be the last ones since Likud won't have the albatross hanging over them anymore.

[Stojam]

Yamina's Bennett meets Ra’am chief Abbas amid effort to form a government without Netanyahu

snip

Well, roping Abbas in would get them over the top if they could get Sa'ar as well, but I don't think the two would want to work together. Smotrich is right in a sense, in terms of Islamism, Ra'am is simply too incompatible with the rest of the Knesset.

If Abbas/Ra'am get into an alliance with Netanyahu? It's literally over for Netanyahu's political career.
Smotrich and the rest of them would leave the coalition immediately and it'll disappoint Netanyahu's right wing voterbase.

As far as I am seeing it? Bennet is crawling back to Netanyahu on all fours, so much for not wanting to be tricked by him LOL.
But even with Bennet, Netanyahu still has no government. He's pretty much pushing the country forth onto a fifth election which he thinks will guarantee him victory.

[Sphingizeh]

It is beyond absurd that one man is banking on the incompatibility of all his opponents to force his continued power.

It is even more absurd that his opponents are willing to make a dal with whomever they regard as the Devil just to stop that one man.

And it is downright sad that everybody knows Israel is heading for another round of elections as soon as Netanyahu has been locked up. But no-one dares to say that out loud, it seems.

The downside of parliamentary democracy. Say what you will about the American system, it at least gives you a decisive result.

Until you introduce a filibuster rule, and then everything gets gridlocked with a vengeance...

[Ethel mermania]

The downside of parliamentary democracy. Say what you will about the American system, it at least gives you a decisive result.

Until you introduce a filibuster rule, and then everything gets gridlocked with a vengeance...

The government doesn't fall.