Eitan Haber
Photo: Shalom Bar Tal
We can say many things about Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Galilee and Negev Affairs Silvan Shalom, but there is no arguing that he is an expert on domestic politics. And just a few days ago, he said that he can smell elections in the air. Moreover, quite a few people in the political establishment share Shalom’s view.
Elections? Now? The current government has only been serving for two years and has two and a half years to go before the next scheduled elections, and we already need to clear the dust on the ballot boxes? What happened?
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Yet that’s exactly the point. A few days ago, Haim Ramon said: “What’s happening is that nothing is happening. And whatever is happening is turning out badly.”
The scent of elections is being noticed by many people not because of a specific event, but rather, because of the accumulation of several developments that may signal the possibility of heading to the polling stations too soon.
On the diplomatic front, with the Palestinians and the Syrians, nothing is happening and we get a sense that we are approaching war. Meanwhile, the ties with the US Administration are not improving.
On the domestic front, the rifts between Eli Yishai (Shas) and Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu), between haredim of Mizrahi descent and former Russians, and between religious and secular keep growing.
In the meantime, the public price exacted by the partnership with Shas is starting to anger too many Likud voters as well as other people. Elsewhere, the decision on whether to serve an indictment against Lieberman is approaching. Governments rise and fall because of things like that.
So do Silvan Shalom, Haim Ramon and all the others see reality as it is?
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