WarSclerotic

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

(Netanyahu has wanted a national unity government to confront Iran for the last two years.  Now he finally got his wish.  Hold on to your hats… – JW )

DEBKAfile Special Report May 8, 2012, 4:43 AM (GMT+02:00)

Binyamin Netanyahu with new Dep. PM Shaul Mofaz

In a startling about turn, Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu let the bill for dissolving parliament (the Knesset) for an election on Sept. 4 go through first reading Monday night. The proceedings were interrupted by his announcement that he was co-opting the leading opposition party Kadima to a national unity government naming its leader Shaul Mofaz, who recently displaced Tzipi Livni, deputy prime minister. The government now commands a huge majority of 92 members of the 120-strong Knesset.
From the start, Netanyahu’s bow to pressure for a general election a year before it was due puzzled political watchers, including debkafile.  His government coalition was exceptionally stable for an Israeli government which has rarely survived more than half a term and he topped opinion polls as the most popular politician in the country.  Labor leader Shelley Yacimovitch was the only opposition leader pushing hard for an early election which no other party seemed to want.

The new lineup awarding Kadima ministerial posts has already been confirmed by Likud’s fellow coalition partners, Israel Beitenu and the ultra-Orthodox Shas. They obtained the prime minister’s commitment to table two controversial bills: the Law for Equality in Sharing the National Burden (universal mobilization for military or community service for all sectors including ultra-Orthodox and Arab citizens) by the end July, and the Reform of Government by the end of December, 2012.
The Kadima leader pledged not to quit the government before end of term in September 2012.

Netanyahu must have pretended to go along with steps for an early election almost up to the end to disarm and mislead his political enemies who had been pushing hard through the media to arrest his rising popularity and bring his government down. In back rooms meanwhile a new, stronger government was in the making in dead secrecy.

Labor remains on the opposition benches after the prime minister turned the tables on its leader’s fairly amateurish campaign to unseat him. Yacimovitch’s obvious next step might be to reignite the “Social Justice” protest movement which took the streets last summer. However efforts to rally large numbers in the last few days, with the help of financial contributions from foreign sources, have fallen flat.
The new face on Israel’s political block Yair Lapid will be left in limbo after the fanfare of launching his new party (There is a Future), the main article of whose charter is the long-term guarantee of his unelected position as party chief.

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