How fourth elections could break Israel’s deadlock
Israeli taxi drivers have long been famed as political pundits, but to understand why the 23rd Knesset is on life support, talk to a doctor. That’s because the unwieldy Likud–Blue and White coalition that took power at the height of the first coronavirus wave has itself suffered from a terminal case of political COVID from its inception.
Start with feebleness. Other than hand-to-mouth lawmaking, the current government has passed no significant legislation except the strange architecture of Netanyahu and Benny Gantz’s “alternative prime minister” arrangement. Instead of a joint agenda, the coalition has survived on the oxygen of a mutual fear of elections. Worst of all, it suffers from the electoral equivalent of a cytokine storm — pitting coalition partners against each other in a frenzied attack on the shared body politic.
But all that seems to be coming to an end. With multiple vaccines set to arrive, a second coronavirus wave behind the country, and Likud stabilizing in the polls at a respectable 30 seats, the Knesset is abuzz with talks of a fourth election in two years.
But will another roll of the dice break the deadlock? Conversations with Degel HaTorah chairman MK Yitzchok Pindrus and veteran political analyst Shalom Yerushalmi revealed the way that the last year has remade the landscape for Bibi, the left, and rising star Naftali Bennett.
Create a free account to keep reading.
