3 days until the end of the Netanyahu’s deadline to form cabinet.
“The most important question in the current situation is whether, if Netanyahu wants more time, Rivlin will legally give him another two weeks to form a new cabinet,” WiNet reported. This is one of the scenarios now, but it only depends on whether there could be a positive change at the last minute that would give Netanyahu more time to form a cabinet.
Over four stalemated elections in the past two years, Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to hold on to a master politician’s one crucial asset — the air of inevitable victory. But with two days before the clock runs out on his attempt to corral together a coalition after a deadlocked March poll, Israel’s longest serving prime minister suddenly appears cornered.
His rightwing alliance is two seats short of a 61-seat majority in the Knesset and three weeks of public cajoling, back room bargaining and parliamentary machinations have failed to produce a single defection to the five-time premier’s camp. If he fails, the president will after May 4 appoint an opposition leader — most likely Yair Lapid, a former television presenter and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party — to try to form a coalition. A splintered opposition united only by the desire to unseat Netanyahu appears to be rallying together to cobble together a minority government, tentatively supported by an Islamist party modelled on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel’s liberal media is already talking about the political demise of the most influential leader the Jewish state has seen since founding president David Ben-Gurion. “Have you ever seen vultures in Jerusalem?” a Likud central committee insider joked in a text message to the FT. They’re circling the prime minister’s residence, “Balfour House right now.” But while Netanyahu’s options have slimmed, he remains a master strategist, said Dahlia Scheindlin, a veteran pollster. “Part of the reason why he always emerges victorious, [is] because he fights every battle, before the elections and after the elections, like it’s a battle for life or death,” she said. “Like a chess player, he’s always thought a few steps ahead of everybody else, but now, the other players are catching up to him.”
Mehul Srivastava in Jerusalem 9 HOURS AGO Print this page Over four stalemated elections in the past two years, Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to hold on to a master politician’s one crucial asset — the air of inevitable victory. But with two days before the clock runs out on his attempt to corral together a coalition after a deadlocked March poll, Israel’s longest serving prime minister suddenly appears cornered. His rightwing alliance is two seats short of a 61-seat majority in the Knesset and three weeks of public cajoling, back room bargaining and parliamentary machinations have failed to produce a single defection to the five-time premier’s camp. If he fails, the president will after May 4 appoint an opposition leader — most likely Yair Lapid, a former television presenter and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party — to try to form a coalition. A splintered opposition united only by the desire to unseat Netanyahu appears to be rallying together to cobble together a minority government, tentatively supported by an Islamist party modelled on the Muslim Brotherhood. Israel’s liberal media is already talking about the political demise of the most influential leader the Jewish state has seen since founding president David Ben-Gurion. “Have you ever seen vultures in Jerusalem?” a Likud central committee insider joked in a text message to the FT. They’re circling the prime minister’s residence, “Balfour House right now.”
But while Netanyahu’s options have slimmed, he remains a master strategist, said Dahlia Scheindlin, a veteran pollster. “Part of the reason why he always emerges victorious, [is] because he fights every battle, before the elections and after the elections, like it’s a battle for life or death,” she said. “Like a chess player, he’s always thought a few steps ahead of everybody else, but now, the other players are catching up to him.” Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas is at the centre of Israel’s electoral deadlock. In a sign of what some see as his desperation, Netanyahu’s camp has leaked options such as a Putin-style presidency, where he would overshadow a temporary loyalist in a rotating prime ministership, while remaining in the official residence. (“The Medvedev Solution” said the Times of Israel, referring to the erstwhile Russian prime minister). One candidate is Benny Gantz, who Netanyahu last year persuaded to join a coalition government but headed to the polls before Gantz had his turn as prime minister in the cabinet. Gantz has reportedly declined. But while Netanyahu seems to have stalled, it is still unclear if the opposition’s dislike of the premier is enough to overcome their differences.
