Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his fragile coalition on Monday tried to show optimism as the Knesset reconvened from recess for its summer session.
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Less than a year after taking office, Bennett has lost his parliamentary majority, his own party is crumbling and a key governing partner – the Arab Ra'am Party – has suspended cooperation with the coalition. That has set the stage for a possible attempt by the opposition, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to topple the government later this week.
While Bennett appears to be poised to fend off this immediate challenge, his longer-term prospects are uncertain at a time when the government is deeply divided over major issues, Israel is facing an ongoing wave of stabbings and shootings by lone-wolf Palestinian attackers and a confrontation with the United States over West Bank settlement construction is looming.
Boaz Toporovsky, the acting coalition chairman, acknowledged the coalition is in the midst of a "serious crisis" but said he was optimistic it would survive. "Everyone understands that we're at a crossroads that can bring about, heaven forbid, elections in Israel," he was quoted on public radio.
The new government made history when it took office last June, ending a prolonged deadlock in which the country went through four rounds of inconclusive elections in just two years. Racing to head off what would have been another election, Bennett cobbled together a diverse coalition of eight parties with little in common beyond their shared animosity toward Netanyahu.
The new coalition, including hard-line religious nationalists that oppose Palestinian statehood, dovish left-wingers and for the first time in an Israeli coalition, an Islamist Arab party, agreed to sideline the country's most divisive issues and focus on areas of broad consensus.
The government has managed to pass a budget, navigate the coronavirus pandemic and strengthen relations with both the Biden administration and Israel's Arab allies. Bennett also has emerged as a surprising mediator in the Ukraine-Russia war, regularly speaking to the leaders of both countries.
Although Bennett, who leads a small religious-nationalist party, has ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians, he has tried to reduce tensions by taking steps to improve living conditions in Judea and Samaria.
This cautious approach has repeatedly been tested. One member of Bennett's Yamina party defected when the government took office, accusing him of abandoning their nationalist ideology. A second member followed suit last month, leaving the coalition and opposition equally divided in the 120-seat parliament.
A public opinion survey in April by the Israel Democracy Institute found that only 30% of respondents believed the government was likely to survive the year, down from 49% in February. The think tank polled 751 Israeli Jews and Arabs, and reported a margin of error of 3.65%.
Weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence, much of it fueled by tensions and fighting at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, prompted Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist Arab Ra'am faction in the coalition, to suspend cooperation. Abbas has not said whether he will resume cooperation or join the opposition in attempts to topple the coalition this week.
"We're in a not so simple crisis with Ra'am," Toporovsky said, adding that he understood the Islamist party's disappointment in the slow pace of effecting change for Israel's Arab citizens.
At the start of the plenum debate in the KNesset on Monday, Netanyahu attacked Bennett for leading a "government of weakness," because of the recent spate of terrorist attacks. "This government does not make decisions, it does not take initiative, it does not fight terrorism," Netanyahu said when he delivered his address on behalf of the opposition. "The government's policy is not shaped at the Prime Minister's Office, or in the 'castle' in Ra'anana," Netanyahu added, referring to the recent controversy over the repairs conducted on Bennett's private home so that it could serve as the temporary official residence. "The government's decisions are made by Ra'am religious council," the former prime minister said. "Anyone who sits with Hamas sympathizers cannot fight Hamas," he warned. He then turned to the prime minister and announced, "Naftali, your government lacks public legitimacy; it's over."
Meanwhile, Bennett sounded an upbeat note, saying at his faction meeting: "We are going to work hard at preserving the coalition and even expanding it by bringing in additional parties."
Bennett shot back at Netanyahu, reacting to his speech by saying: "The silent majority in Israeli want the government to succeed, and for the country to succeed and continue to thrive. We are going to take this country forward and continue moving toward growth and security but we are going to do this together." He added that the "silent majority should speak more often."
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