After securing unity cabinet with Kadima, Netanyahu is now king of Israeli politics

[[BLISS NOTES] Philip Bliss]

Haaretz  - Tue, May 08, 2012
Published 09:09 08.05.12Latest update 09:09 08.05.12

After securing unity cabinet with Kadima, Netanyahu is now king of
Israeli politics

Senior Haaretz analyst Yossi Verter says that, after getting over
initial feelings of disgust and nausea, you have to admit that Netanyahu
has once again taught us all a lesson. He's Israel's number one
politician, no doubt - by a mile.

By Yossi Verter

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/after-securing-unity-cabinet-with-kadima-netanyahu-is-now-king-of-israeli-politics-1.428901


Twice in the last ten days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left the
political system gaping with its jaw dropped. The first was ten days
ago, when it became apparent that Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman jointly, and secretly, advanced a move to dissolve the Knesset
and move up general elections. The second time was at 1:30 A.M. on
Tuesday morning, when nothing less than an atomic bomb was dropped witj
the dramatic agreement that has inserted Kadima into the government and
called off an early vote.

While we were sleeping, under all our noses, politicians and journalists
alike, a wondrous political friendship has been forming over the last
week between two bitter rivals: the prime minister and Likud chief
Netanyahu, and opposition leader and Kadima head Shaul Mofaz. The
former, out of great power. The latter, from severe weakness. All the
rest was smoke and mirrors: Mofaz's incessant and severe attacks against
Netanyahu; Netanyahu's election speech at the Likud conference; Mofaz's
consultations with party members on cancelling the primaries; and, above
all, the parliamentary move in the Knesset to dissolve the Knesset,
which turned out to be redundant from beginning to end. One big joke.

For hours, Israel's legislature, democracy's abode, turned, unwittingly
and not to its favor, into a theater, a façade. On the stage, the boys
played the early-elections game, yapping and flapping, cursing and
attacking, without even considering that behind the scenes Netanyahu,
Mofaz, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and their confidents – Lior Horev
for Mofaz, Nathan Eshel for Netanyahu – were patching together the unity
cabinet of 2012-2013.

After getting over initial feelings of disgust and nausea, you have to
admit that Netanyahu, again, taught us all a lesson. He is the number
one politician, no doubt - by a mile. He bought Kadima, with its 28 MKs
for a nothing, for two and a half coins, thus ensuring himself another
18 months in power, headed by a coalition of 94 MKs. No party can topple
him. The new Netanyahu government is made of one hundred tons of solid
concrete.

What's in it for the state? The approval of a (hopefully adequate)
replacement to the Tal Law, which expires at the end of July; passing a
restricted budget; and passing a law to change Israel's system of
government. Two big questions rise following this deal: Iran – will the
formation of this super-wide cabinet advance the option of a strike
against Iran (despite the fact that Mofaz objects to such a move), and
the peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Should we expect a
breakthrough? It's doubtful. Not before the U.S. presidential elections
in November.

If the two main clauses in the agreement – a Haredi enlistment law and a
law to change the system of government – are actually realized,
Netanyahu may turn into the king of Israel. Meanwhile, he's certainly
worthy of the title 'king of the political system.' We saw it in January
2011, when, together with Barak, he orchestrated the Labor split, which,
in turn, solidified his own cabinet. We saw it again when on Monday
afternoon, he opened the Likud conference with a vague comment, one
which could only be understood in retrospect: "The Israeli people want
stability, the Israeli people will get stability."

Mofaz, on the other hand, proved that he fits the title of "hitchhiker,"
given to him by Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar in a meeting to ratify
the Kadima head as opposition leader five weeks ago. After his
elections, he swore to the author of these lines that he would never
join this government, which "embodies all that is wrong in the State of
Israel." He declared that he would be the one to lead the next summer's
social protests. So he promised, he never promised to keep his promise.
The polls that predicted the imminent demise of Kadima, along with the
setting of September 4 as the date of the new elections, led him
straight into the arms of the "liar," as he recently called Netanyahu in
an outburst a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee. When Mofaz is sworn in as the senior vice prime minister, it
will probably end the shortest term ever of an opposition leader.

Labor chief Shelly Yacimovich is expected to fill his shoes. She will
get a lot of exposure, a generous budget for her activities, an armored
car, and husky security guards to clear her path and to question her
visitors. But she's also the biggest loser of this agreement: the 18
Knesset seats that polls have predicted for her in an upcoming elections
will have to wait until Autumn 2013, and you never know what'll happen
until then. Yacimovich at least has the opposition leadership (even if
it is a shriveled, thin, powerless, 26-member opposition), but what does
Yair Lapid have? What will he do to keep himself busy until the
elections? How will he keep the torch [lapid] from blowing out and keep
on burning? Will he be even relevant in 18 months? Well, probably not.
This is where his story ends.

Exactly four months ago, on January 8, Lapid deserted his seat as
presenter of Channel 2's "Ulpan Shishi" [Friday night studio, the
channel's leading news magazine] with elections looming in the
background. He meant well, even if he made mistakes along the way and
committed some errors, the last of which was that ridiculous,
anti-democratic, and Ceausescu-esque party guidelines he had prepared.
On any account, Lapid's time was now. In 18 months, it will be a whole
other opera.

At the Likud party meeting, which began around 2 A.M.on Tuesday at the
Knesset, most of the MKs welcomed Netanyahu with applause. They were
relieved. At the discussion, MK Miri Regev suggested that the response
to the High Court's ruling, effectively forcing the state to clear five
houses at the Ulpana Hill West Bank outpost by July 1, Israel must
assert its sovereignty on all the settlements.

Netanyahu looked at her wearily, and said: "Miri, but we postponed the
elections."