Netanyahu losing control
Op-ed: In wake of latest blows, countdown to Netanyahu government’s demise underway
Within fewer than 20 months, Netanyahu managed to do the impossible – that is, to repeat all his past mistakes.
He ruined Israel’s foreign relations with many countries, headed by the United States, zigzagged himself to death with a series of puzzling decisions and counter-decisions, messed up the diplomatic process vis-à-vis the Palestinians because he capitulated to the Right, made secular and centrist voters sick and tired of his government because of the liquidation sale to the haredim, and turned his office into a hornets’ nest that is almost impossible to work at.
Yet the prime minister did not manage to do one thing – to keep his wife from getting involved in matters out of her jurisdiction.
Netanyahu also managed to be perceived as the major culprit, along with Interior Minister Eli Yishai, behind the horrifying neglect of Israel’s firefighting and rescue services. And we haven’t even mentioned the controversial laws passed by his government, and his hesitation and inability to take decisions which manifested itself through the establishment of infinite needless committees that keep on putting off important decisions.
Barak out of excuses
On the diplomatic front, the prime minister just got another reminder that time does not stand still. The American Administration’s announcement that the talks failed conveyed a sense of losing its patience with the bargaining vis-à-vis Netanyahu in recent weeks. Officials in Washington decided to put an end to the virtual reality that helped Netanyahu maintain his coalition; a reality that painted a distorted picture as though the diplomatic process was still alive and well.
The American decision to declare that contacts with Israel over the freeze issue failed has dramatic political implications. The Labor Party, which as it is had been reaching boiling point in recent months, may find itself out of the government within a short period of time should we not see rapid progress on the diplomatic front. Ehud Barak no longer has any excuses left to keep his crumbling party in the coalition.
Now, the pressure shall grow and senior Labor officials are talking about the beginning of the end and full recognition that “everything is stuck.” And when this is the case, Labor has no reason to stay in Netanyahu’s government, and the prime minister may end up with the coalition he most feared: A narrow rightist coalition.
The second Netanyahu government can be likened to a car that is about to run out of fuel. It’s going on vapors at this time; the remnants of shady political deals and the personal fears of politicians who are clinging to their government seats like a drowning man hanging on to straw. Yet any rookie parliamentary aide knows that one cannot drive for long on vapors. The car is indeed moving, yet it’s only make-belief; it won’t be making it far.
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