Israel Heads to New Election After Netanyahu Fails to Form Coalition

HaAretz ^ | May 30, 2019 | Jonathan Lis, Chaim Levinson, Aaron Rabinowitz and Jack Khoury

[Lurking Libertarian]

The Knesset voted Wednesday night to dissolve itself after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition, sending Israel to a new election mere seven weeks after the last one.

At the heart of the impasse was the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students: Yisrael Beiteinu's Avigdor Lieberman, without whom Netanyahu can't form a coalition, refused to back down on the bill's terms, while ultra-Orthodox parties claimed they have already yielded enough ground.

MK Avigdor Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page that Likud holds responsibility for the repeat election because of its refusal to vote on bill to draft the ultra-Orthodox.

[Lurking Libertarian]

After the last election, it seemed like Netanyahu would have an easy time forming a coalition government, because the right-wing and religious parties won a total of 65 seats; only 61 are needed for a majority. But that total included Avigdor Lieberman's party, which won 5 seats.

Lieberman's party is hard-right on most political issues, but is generally secular on religious issues. Particularly, Lieberman is strongly against the present Israeli policy of exempting ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth from the military draft; all other Jewish Israelis are drafted at age 18. Many Israelis, even those on the right, resent the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption while their children are drafted.

Lieberman refused to join Netantahu's coalition unless the draft exemption is scaled back; the ultra-Orthodox religious parties, who together hold 11 seats, refused to compromise. So Netanyahu was left with only 60 seats, one short of a majority.

[fortheDeclaration]

Unbelievable!

[Gay State Conservative]

Those who've been paying attention understand that the US most certainly has a Swamp...as does Europe. But I wonder if Israel has one as well....I don't know nearly enough about Israel to be sure.

[faithhopecharity]

There is teaching that the second Temple fell
(was destroyed by the Romans)
due to needless infighting
among the Jewish People.
(Kittin 55b-56a).

Truly, there’s very little new under the sun...Ecclesiastes/Koheleth 1:9)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks for the clarification in plain English; I was just going to ask!

I sure hope the world doesn’t lose BiBi. It’s going to be a sad, sad day when that happens. :(

I also have no problem with EVERY Israeli helping to carry the load; God needs All Hands On Deck in these troubled times.

[Guenevere]

Not Good!

[Jewbacca]

Great, another six months of robocalls, emails, and the occasional door-knocker.

[Lurking Libertarian]

The problem in Israel is that there is no two-party system; every political party gets seats in the Knesset (Parliament) proportional to their percentage of the vote. So never in Israeli history has one party won an outright majority; every government is a coalition.

Further complicating things is that there isn't a clear left-right split among the population; political conservatives, who are a clear majority, include the ultra-Orthodox, but also include many of the moderate Orthodox, who do serve in the Army, and even some of the "secular" (irreligious) Israelis. So even on the right wing of the political spectrum there are many who resent the ultra-Orthodox exemption from the draft.

The ultra-Orthodox, on the other hand, refuse to compromise on this issue because they fear that if their children serve in the Army they will be exposed to secular influences.

[Jyotishi]

“I sure hope the world doesn’t lose BiBi.”

Those we love, those we hate, those who just are, we lose.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yep. Ain’t NONE of us getting out alive. ;)

[Lurking Libertarian]

The obvious solution would have been for Likud (Netanyahu’s party) to form a coalition with the Blue & White Party, which came in second to Likud (by one seat). That would have yielded a very stable 69-seat majority, without any need for the religious parties’ 11 seats. Blue & White is only a hair less conservative than Likud. The problem is that Blue & White would be happy to be in a coalition with Likud if it were headed by anyone but Netanyahu (many of Blue & White’s leaders are former Likud members), but Blue & White said they wouldn’t support Netanyahu for Prime Minister while he is facing indictment on bribery charges.

[Rusty0604]

So the ultra-orthodox are willing to lose everything for that one issue.

[dfwgator]

Democracy sucks.

_{But less than any other system.}

[fruser1]

I wonder if O still has an office out there.

[babble-on]

It’s a fair point, I have to admit. They are all on welfare and won’t serve in the military.

[CincyRichieRich]

I’m a little surprised PDJT hasn’t tweeted about Netanyahu...perhaps because he isn’t confident in him winning?

[montag813]

This is likely good news for Israel, as the “genius” JARED and his “Deal of the Century” will have to wait until the fall.

[Jyotishi]

I forgot to put “Confuse-us Say: “ at the beginning of the quotation.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I’m a little surprised PDJT hasn’t tweeted about Netanyahu...perhaps because he isn’t confident in him winning?

He did tweet in support of Netanyahu over the past few days, hoping to sway Lieberman into joining the coalition.