WarSclerotic

Analysis: A new balance at the ca… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

Photo: Emil Salman / Pool / Haaretz

On June 4, 1967, then-prime minister Levi Eshkol formed a national unity government and appointed Moshe Dayan minister of defense. A day later, the Six Day War broke out.

The threat that Israel faces today from Iran is not as imminent as the one Eshkol was concerned with 45 years ago. On the other hand though, by inserting Shaul Mofaz and Kadima into the government, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may be trying to tighten ranks ahead of a possible war that might be looming on the horizon, a war against Iran.

</p><p>Shaul, welcome</p></p><p>When it became clear to me that we can form a very broad government</p></p><div id=’relatedArticles’><label id=’relatedArticlesTitle’> Related: </label><ul><li><div class=’relatedArticlesItem’ > <a href=’/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=269131′ TARGET = ‘_blank’>Mofaz: No flip flop, I took ‘historic’ offer</a></div></li><li><div class=’relatedArticlesItem’ > <a href=’/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=269147′ TARGET = ‘_blank’>Unity deal draws mixture of disgust and delight</a></div></li></ul></div><p>In fact, the broadest governmentin the history of the state of Israel</p></p><p>of 94 members of knesset</p></p><p>I realized we can restore stabilitywithout going to elections</p></p><p>There are 4 topics that anchor Kadima’s decision to join Netanyahu’s current coalition </p></p><p>The first is changing the Tal Law</p></p><p>The second is changing the government system</p></p><p>Third is the political negotiations</p></p><p>And our dealing with a number of challenges</p></p><p>including the economic and social challenges</p><br />

Mofaz however is not someone who is expected to immediately fall in line behind Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak when it comes to Iran.

A former defense minister and chief of staff, he has a record that nearly parallels Barak’s and could try and take a stand against him in the government. He is intimately familiar with the Iranian issue – not just because of his birth in Tehran – but also from his more recent role as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and head of the Strategic Dialogue with the United States up until 2009.

According to media reports over the past year, Mofaz has been opposed to an Israeli attack against Iran and will find a partner in his successor as chief of staff Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon who is also opposed to unilateral Israeli action.

Both believe that a military option should be a last resort and Israel should instead try and get the United States to stop the Iranians.

If Netanyahu plans on bringing such an option to a security cabinet vote in the near future and possibly as early as this summer, he likely gave thought to the way Mofaz would vote and the potential outcome.

Judging by the decision to bring Kadima into the government, Netanyahu either is not planning on bringing a possible strike to a vote or he believes that he has a majority in the cabinet without Mofaz. Another possibility is that Netanyahu believes that once Mofaz joins the government and is re-exposed to the latest classified material on Iran, the Kadima leader will change his mind.

This entry was posted on May 8, 2012 at 6:06 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.