{"id":686,"date":"2020-03-14T18:21:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T18:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/?p=686"},"modified":"2020-04-20T05:20:46","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T05:20:46","slug":"2020-result-of-the-third-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/2020-result-of-the-third-election\/","title":{"rendered":"2020: Result of the Third Election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party is the clear\nwinner in this most recent election, which won 36 seats. Second is centrist\nparty Blue and White that won 33 seats. Blue and White, headed by former Chief\nof Staff Benny Gantz is comprised of Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem’s party, Yair\nLapid’s Yesh Atid, and his own Israel Resilience Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arab Joint List political\nalliance, now the third-largest party in Israel drew 15 seats. The Shas\nSephardic religious party has 9, United Torah Judaism 7, and the right-wing\nYamina, headed by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, has six seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu\nhas 7, and the alliance of Israel’s left-wing parties – Labor-Gesher-Meretz –\nboth won 7 seats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right bloc under Netanyahu\u2019s\nleadership has 58 seats and the center\/left bloc under Blue and White has 55,\nwhich includes the Arab Joint list of 15 seats. This leaves Lieberman\u2019s\nIsrael\u2019s Home party with 7 seats alone in the middle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PM Netanyahu may be 3 seats short<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Interim Prime Minister Benjamin\nNetanyahu\u2019s block of right-wing seats is three <\/em>short of the 61 seats needed to form a viable\ncoalition government. Lieberman is once again in the role of potential\nkingmaker. With his 7-seat party, he could determine, by recommendation to\nPresident Reuven Rivlin, who would be the one to form a government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up until the evening of the\nelections, the second-largest party headed by Benny Gantz, composed of three\nex-military generals and one popular ex-newsman, did all they could with their\n\u2018anyone-but-Bibi\u2019 platform. They tried three times before and couldn\u2019t beat\nhim. Once again, they lost. Would it be different on the fourth try?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone agrees on one thing\u2013a\nfourth-round is unnecessary. It isn\u2019t efficient or logical. Three elections\nhave confirmed that the majority of Israeli voters support the Prime Minister\nand his policies and that the other parties can’t beat him at the ballot\nbox. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, rather than admit defeat,\nBlue and White has chosen the irresponsible undemocratic way\u2013instead of what\u2019s\nbest for the Jewish nation\u2019s welfare. They have chosen not to end this\nstalemate and join with Netanyahu to form a coalition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong legitimate government is\nneeded at this time. Historic and critical decisions are pending, such as\nthe \u2018Deal of the Century\u2019<\/em>.\nThe State of Israel has a short window of opportunity to impose sovereignty\nover the Jordan Valley and communities in Judea and Samaria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of this election show that\nthe right-wing block has the majority of the votes and can be expected to\nimplement right-wing policies (excluding the anti-Zionist Arab Joint List). For\nthe sake of the country, it is imperative to quickly form a national government\nthat guarantees the implementation of the right-wing policies. Whoever agrees\nwith this vision should be welcome to join. Netanyahu has started his\nnegotiations to find Knesset Members from the opposition who might be persuaded\nto join with the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawfare<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

However, since the opposition Blue\nand White hasn\u2019t beaten Netanyahu at the ballot box, it has chosen to try to\ndefeat him by making him step down by using his legal issues as an excuse. By\nthis, they completely ignore the basic law which states Netanyahu can serve as Prime\nMinister while he is on trial, which could be years. With this election, the\npublic gave Netanyahu a mandate to continue at his post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition claims he can\u2019t do his\njob while busy with legal matters. Netanyahu has proven repeatedly that he can\nfunction while under great pressure. He isn’t required to attend every court\nhearing, so his lawyers will be able to do their work at court until a final\njudgment is rendered, which could take years. Meanwhile, he can manage the\ncountry as the law explicitly permits. The Israeli public concurs since the\nmajority voted for him\u2014again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conspiring to create new legislation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Blue and White Party, Avigdor\nLieberman, and the Arabic Joint List conspire to create new legislation that\nwould ban a politician under criminal indictment from becoming Prime Minister. This\neffort to topple a serving Prime Minister on sketchy charges, or just\ninappropriate behavior, is clearly an act of desperation on the part of those\nwho despise Netanyahu and are determined to topple him by any means possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft legislation can only be\npresented in the Knesset once the new parliament has been sworn in, some two\nweeks from now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To guarantee the bill’s passage,\nGantz of Blue and White will have to muster the largest number of MKs to back\nhim as the next Prime Minister, receive the mandate to form a government from\nthe president, and then take control of the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee. A\nnew Knesset speaker would have to be elected to replace the present speaker,\nLikud’s Yuli Edelstein to ensure that the bill makes it through within certain\ndeadlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this dramatic move, Lieberman’s\nannouncement shows for the first time he is clearly taking sides in the battle\nbetween the center-left and right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel is a democracy!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Right-wing politicians have denounced\nthe law, claiming that it is a personal legislation specifically designed to\nprevent Netanyahu from forming a government. Netanyahu also assailed the draft\nlaw, saying, “The move led by\nGantz and his associates undermines democracy.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If passed into law, it will be an\nundemocratic move. It will take the power to decide who would run for the\noffice of PM away from the people, and put it in the hands of the unelected Attorney\nGeneral. The majority of the people voted for Netanyahu even with a criminal\nindictment against him, because they believe he is not guilty and that he is best\nsuited for the position. Therefore, the bill will cancel the results of this\nrecent election, when two million Israelis voted for Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party\nand his right wind block. This will make the voters irrelevant, which is not\nwhat democracy is all about. For Israel to remain the democracy it claims to\nbe, the power of the vote must stay with the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, the elected bodies of\nIsrael\u2019s governing system, meaning the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and the\ngovernment are being checked by the legal system, but there is no one above\nthem to check them. They can, and they do override government ruling that\ndoesn\u2019t suit them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with the Arab Joint List<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Benny Gantz meeting with Aymen Odeh and Ahmad Tibi of the Arab Joint List<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As it stands now, the new Knesset\nwill be sworn on March 17. Parties will give the president their recommendation\nof either Netanyahu or Gantz to form the government. He will have 42 days or the\ndecision will go over to the other candidate. Lieberman and the Arab Joint List\nwill probably recommend Gantz. But then they will negotiate and give him their\ndemands to actually join him in a coalition. The Arab Joint List has already\nhinted that their list will include more demands than last time as they feel\nthey have more power this time because without them Gantz will not be able to\nform a coalition. Among their demands is that the government refuse to accept\nTrump\u2019s deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue and White’s party has a two-step\nplan to avoid a fourth round of elections. The initial phase is to form a\nminority coalition with Labor-Gesher-Meretz and Yisrael Beiteinu, with outside\nsupport by Arab Joint List, and a second phase that assumes, once a minority\ngovernment is formed, that members of various right-wing parties would be\nwilling to join the coalition. During the whole campaign, the Blue and White\nparty claimed they would not sit with the Arab Joint List in a coalition and\nwould not rely on their votes to form one. Gantz declared very definitely: \u201cNo,\nwe don\u2019t need them. Everyone should know: we won’t sit with Arabs.\u201d Now that\nthey have no choice, they’re starting to negotiate with members of the Arab\nJoint List \u2013 at least some of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will some MKs changes sides?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Blue and White MK Yoaz Hendel <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Blue and White MKs Tzvi\nHauser and Yoaz Hendel refused to back a minority government relying upon a\ncoalition with the Arab Joint List. Without Hendel and Hauser, Gantz’s majority\nover Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing block would fall to 60-58\nand make it necessary for Gantz to rely on the three MKs of Balad, the most\nextreme Arab party in the Knesset whose past MKs have been convicted of aiding\nterrorist groups. Now another MK member, Orli Levy-Abekasis from Gesher party,\nwho reluctantly joined the left bloc, refused to join a government that relies\non the support of Joint Arab List member Balad, which denies the existence of\nthe Jewish nation. Anyway, her natural home is not in the left block. Let\u2019s\nhope the three of them will join the right block. The best Blue and White can\nget is a rotation as Prime Minister with Netanyahu serving the first year,\nfollowed by two years of Gantz and then whoever would be Likud\u2019s leader serving\nthe final year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s pray<\/strong> that some of the members of the Blue and White coalition, be it the ex-generals who fought against Israel\u2019s enemies, or Amir Peretz from the Labor party who was responsible for the manufacture and use of the Iron Dome by the Israeli Army, join the winning bloc of Netanyahu\u2019s right and form a functioning democratic government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protesters are planning to gather outside the homes of Hauser and Gesher MK Orly Levi. The protests are set to be held under the banner: “Don\u2019t give the keys to the State to terrorist supporters.”<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party is the clear winner in this most recent election, which won 36 seats. Second is centrist party Blue and White that won 33 seats. Blue and White, headed by former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is comprised of Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem’s party, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, and his own Israel Resilience Party. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,78,7,80],"tags":[70,76],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-from-the-newsletter","category-mainstorywidget-left","category-politics-in-israel","category-sidebarstorywidget-top","tag-antisemitism","tag-elections","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions\/694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeshuatami.com\/newsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}