Israel || The End Of The Netanyahu Era?

After his former partner in the Blue and White bloc, Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, has become the third Israeli in the last two years to receive the desired but thorny task of forming a government . At the end of the 28-day deadline at midnight on Tuesday, Netanyahu returned the mandate to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin by failing to assemble a coalition and end a political blockade that has grown after each of the four elections held. since April 2019.

The situation in the Knesset is so entrenched that Lapid has no choice but to agree - or at least try in the next 28 days - a rotation government with the conservative leader Naftali Bennett, granting the latter the option of being the first to assume the reins of the state. An unprecedented fact since it barely obtained 7 seats in the elections on March 23, in contrast to Lapid's 17 and Netanyahu's 30.

Rivlin, who met separately this morning with Bennett and Lapid, has announced his decision after 56 of the 120 deputies of the chamber in Jerusalem belonging to seven parties (two centrists, two conservatives, two leftists and one Arab) recommended him. Lapid as a candidate.

According to Rivlin, he is the one with the most options to form a government, although he admitted "the many obstacles." The president knows that he is giving the mandate to the centrist leader to make Bennett prime minister in the first part of the legislature of a government made up of parties of the left, center and right and the support of an Arab list.

"A unity government is not a concession or the last resort but an objective and what we need," Lapid reacted, anticipating that he will do everything possible to be formed "as soon as possible."

CRITICAL MOMENT FOR NETANYAHU

The end of the Netanyahu era? Although this question has been ridiculed several times by the great "political survivor" of the last decades in Israel, it is a critical moment for someone who has made numerous enemies in the Knesset and who also faces a trial for alleged corruption.

"It is not a unity government but a dangerous left," criticizes an angry Netanyahu who had asked Rivlin to hand over the mandate to the Knesset so that it would not fall into the hands of Lapid, considering that he could end his 12 consecutive years in power . For this reason, he even considered recommending his hated rival Bennett and thus maintaining the option of a conservative coalition with the support of the Arab Raam party. He did not do so because Bennett refused to agree not to negotiate with Lapid.

After losing the battle, the premier fights to win the war. That is, avoid the creation of an alternative government and go to the polls to achieve a majority of its bloc in what would be the fifth attempt in two years. Hence, he multiplied the pressure on Bennett's right-wing faction and congratulated one of Bennett's MPs, Amichai Chikli, for opposing a coalition with the left. "Bennett breaks all his promises. In all our last meetings he was only interested in being prime minister. Now he wants to be prime minister for two years with Lapid," Netanyahu accuses.

FEAR OF A FIFTH ELECTION

"Despite my attempts, Netanyahu failed to form a conservative government so now we have two options. New elections or a broad emergency government that is not the dream but can get the car out of the mud. I prefer the second option," he justifies Bennett is aware that he cannot refuse to be prime minister even if he is the object of the ire of important sectors on the right that feel betrayed.

Although the path to inauguration may end in a precipitous fall, it is the greatest success of former columnist Lapid since in 2012 he abandoned the enormous popularity of prime time to found the liberal Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party. The former finance minister (2013-2015) has been a predominant figure in opposition to Israel's longest-serving prime minister.

At the end of 2018, Lapid agreed to the merger with the new formation created by Gantz. Azul y Blanco emerged as a powerful alternative until last year Netanyahu managed to seduce the former head of the Army under the argument of the political and especially health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus. The centrist bloc was split in two: Gantz in the rotating government with Netanyahu and Lapid as the head of the opposition. After a few months, Gantz admitted to having been deceived by the Likud leader, who did not approve the budget to avoid giving him the relief in the head of government in November 2021 as they signed in the agreement. The crisis ended a month and a half ago at the polls for the fourth time.

Gantz - today acting Defense Minister - has recommended Lapid to the president to try what seems like science fiction in recent years in Israel: a government without Netanyahu and avoid new elections.