Bibi's coalition is beset from within
Under Israel’s parliamentary system, governments aren’t usually toppled by the opposition; they self-destruct and crumble from within.
The best illustration of that came last year with the collapse of the Bennett-Lapid government — like a structure built on unstable foundations that imploded on its own, without help from an earthquake. Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid plied their allies with jobs and money — but the government of extremes, united only by hatred of Binyamin Netanyahu, fell like a house of cards.
Bennett, now back home in Ra’anana after a lucrative speaking tour abroad, is enjoying a brief spell of vindication. This week, when I interviewed Amichai Eliyahu, a minister from Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit, he sang the praises of — get this — Naftali Bennett, for his response to the threat of missile fire from Gaza. “Bennett’s government responded to Hamas more forcefully than Netanyahu’s government,” said Eliyahu, echoing his party chair, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
This week it started to feel like there’s no covering the cracks in Netanyahu’s sixth coalition, just three months after its formation. For the first time in his almost 15 years as prime minister, Netanyahu finds himself leading a fully right-wing government — something he defined as a goal ahead of the last elections. The target has been hit — but it’s on the prime minister’s back.
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