Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will not be a candidate in the next legislative elections, his spokesman said Wednesday evening, June 29, a few hours before the expected dissolution of Parliament which will pave the way for a fifth ballot in less than four years in Israel.
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Naftali Bennett”announced to the elected officials of Yamina (his party, editor’s note) his intention not to stand in the next elections“, told the press his spokesperson in a short message in Hebrew, specifying that the outgoing Prime Minister was to speak later in the evening. In June 2021, Naftali Bennett and the current head of diplomacy Yaïr Lapid had written a page in the history of Israel by bringing together a coalition of eight parties (right, left, center), including for the first time an Arab formation , in order to cut short Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12 years of uninterrupted power.
“Alternative Government”
But a year later, the coalition has lost its majority in the chamber to the point where Naftali Bennett threw in the towel last week when he announced his intention to dissolve the chamber to call new elections. Since this surprise announcement, Israel has been teeming with rumours. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud, right) attempted to co-opt coalition MPs to form a “alternative governmentand thus regain the post of Prime Minister without going through an election.
But these attempts failed. And a parliamentary committee acted on the night of Monday to Tuesday the end of these attempts by indicating that Parliament was going to be dissolved on Wednesday. Why such a deadline? The deputies want to pass a series of laws – Tuesday and Wednesday – before dissolving the Parliament knowing that as of Thursday a provision protecting the more than 475,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank will be null and void if the Parliament is not dissolved.
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In order to weaken the coalition of Naftali Bennett and Lapid, the opposition had inflicted a snub on it on June 6 by gathering a majority of votes against the renewal of the “settlers law“, a provision that the chamber must renew every five years.
Chaos or elections?
However, this law had to be renewed on June 30, otherwise settlers in the West Bank – Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 – risked losing their legal protection under Israeli law. And as Naftali Bennett, an ardent defender of these colonies, yet deemed illegal under international law, could not risk this “chaoshe preferred to do harakiri to his government. But Wednesday evening, the debates to validate other bills dragged on in Parliament, right-wing elected officials accusing Arab deputies of wanting to slow down the legislative process precisely so that the “settlers law» is not renewed in time.
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After the dissolution of Parliament, Naftali Bennett will give way to Yaïr Lapid. Their coalition agreement provided for power sharing, including a clause that Naftali Lapid would act as interim until a new government was formed in the event of the dissolution of the Knesset (parliament). And for the next few months, Naftali Bennett will retain the title of alternate prime minister, his services said.
Unity ?
“What we need today is to return to the concept of Israeli unity and not let the forces of darkness divide ussaid Naftali Lapid last week, who will not have time to celebrate his accession to the highest steps of Israeli power for long. This ex-star journalist who founded the centrist party a decade agoYesh Atid» («there is a futurein Hebrew) will have to quickly put his troops in battle order for the elections, in addition to being both prime minister and foreign minister.
And it is he who will welcome US President Joe Biden to Israel for his first tour of the Middle East, in mid-July, since his arrival at the White House. For his part, Naftali Bennett should keep a title of Prime Minister by alternating while keeping his eyes riveted on the file of a potential new agreement on the Iranian nuclear program which the Jewish State opposes.
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“We fought like lions, until the last moment, and it became impossibleto save the government, said Naftali Bennett recently who, according to opinion polls, will also have to fight to save his political party Yamina (radical right) threatened with implosion and electoral collapse.