Can the Current Israeli Government Survive?

JERUSALEM — An Arab woman, a member of Meretz, announced her resignation from the government. Her situation is complex. She’s not likely to be attracted to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and she’s not committing herself to vote to disband the government. She indicates that the government hasn’t done enough for the Arabs of Israel, and that is the reason she is leaving. Since resigning, she’s gone back and forth. Now it appears that she hasn’t really left the government.

There is an Arab party in the government, whose leader has also gone back and forth with respect to his participation, and seems to express significant support for Arab interests.

And a short while ago, a female member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s party also indicated that she was leaving the government. And her reasons focus on its inclusion of an Arab party and its support for Arab causes!.

So one might leave the government because it is not supportive enough of the Arabs. And another might leave the government because it has Arab members.

That reflects the wide range of the government, from right to left, with a bit of the center in between, and able to negotiate its way from one piece of legislation to another.

What keeps the whole thing afloat is its opposition to Bibi.

Whatever, the government currently may have only 59 members, less than a majority of the 120 member Knesset. Can it survive?

The Opposition counts only 53 members, principally of Likud and two ultra-Orthodox parties.

What’s lacking are the two members who may have left the government, plus an Arab party. How they’ll all vote on crucial issues is anybody’s guess.

It looks a lot like our friends in the U.S., with a close split in Congress, a moderate President having to struggle in order to pass anything, and the looming presence of Donald Trump, insisting that he won the last election and hinting that he’ll take over in 2024.

Here his equivalent is Bibi. A former friend and ally of Trump, and currently the head of Opposition and threatening to take over as the government collapses.

Both Trump and Netanyahu are shaky in their own parties. There’s indication of opposition, but so far no one has come forward to take over the lead.

Here it’s guessed that a Likud without Netanyahu could amass enough to take over the government, but Bibi is not surrendering. Like Trump, he’s a looming presence, polling well, but not well enough to assure that he’d do better than whoever opposes him in an election.

But the present government, ranging from Ra’am and Meretz to the parties of Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar, with Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz in the middle, has done as well as Biden in the U.S. to keep legislating what’s essential to remain in power.

Other than our political squabbles, things are not peaceful. Eighteen Israeli have been killed by terrorists in 2022, That compared to 17 killed in 2021 and only three in 2020. Security forces have been active most days, especially around Jenin in the West Bank. The U.N. counts 48 Palestinians killed by Israelis so far in 2022.

The Palestinian government of the West Bank, led by Mahmoud Abbas, supports Israel, more or less, on matters of security. But it is openly acerbic in opposing the Jewish state, with media and education that contribute to hatred and incitement.

We also have a problem with the various groups of ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim. Their annual celebration on Mt. Meron at the tomb of Shimon Bar Yochai. Last year something like 100,000, mostly Haredim participated, and 45 were killed in the crush. This year the site was partly reconstructed, and tickets were issued in order to prevent no more than 16,000 in attendance at any one time. That worked on the eve of Lag B’Omer, but on the next day some 13,000 members of the Satmar sect rebelled, refused to request tickets, and did what they could to participate at the grave site. Riots occurred, no one seems to have been killed, but the police retreated and let the crowd surge forward.

And we’re still arguing about the death of Shireen Abu Akleh and her funeral. The IDF has identified a gun that may have fired the fatal shot, but can’t proceed without the bullet. And it’s inquiry does not support the Palestinian notion of an intentional killing. It’s quite possible that the journalist’s closeness to a gun fight brought about her death. Journalism is not a safe professional for those who insist on covering violence from close up. And we’re still quarreling about her funeral, with various allegations about prior agreements about the carrying of the casket, and the commotion that surrounded it and the role of the police.

Whatever happened, the incident of her death and funeral are among the charges levied by the Arab Knesset Member who has left the government.

It’s not easy running a country beset with animosity from one side, as well as from another side that sees this as a Jewish state and wonders about the presence of Arabs in—or close to—its government.