When it comes to Israeli politics, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid has in recent years been considered the responsible adult in the room. That is not to say he is innocent of incitement, manipulation, broken promises, and trickery, but rather precisely because he has excelled at them. Lapid has excelled at politics and spun a web around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that ultimately led to his downfall.
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All this was true up until the deal to make Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi Israel's consul in Shanghai. Anyone who has followed Rinawie Zoabi's positions and knows anything about the process for Foreign Ministry appointments would have known from the start that her appointment was far-fetched and therefore destined to stall.
This was a political appointment, and while foreign ministers are authorized to appoint their people to central embassy positions, a political appointment and a political deal are not one and the same.
Had Lapid checked, he would have discovered that the High Court of Justice took a critical view of an appointment made as part of a similar deal 22 years ago for then-Labor MK Yossi Katz. Overly confident from his success in taking over the government, Lapid, the man who made a career out of crying out against Likud political appointments did not examine the appointment that was so problematic even the Movement for Quality Government in Israel has spoken out against Rinawie Zoabi's selection for the role.
Furthermore, Rinawie Zoabie's positions were unacceptable on a professional level. While Arab diplomats who avoid singing the national anthem do serve in the Foreign Ministry, they know they must play down their positions. This is not the case with Rinawie Zoabi, whose political stances are public knowledge.
It was clear from the outset that given her background, Rinawie Zoabi could not represent the State of Israel. How, for example, could she justify to Chinese authorities the actions of the police on the Temple Mount when she believes the clashes there involved "violent officers and a crowd of worshippers"? Would she have said as much to her Chinese counterparts? Or would she have lied and repeated the Foreign Ministry's position?
Regardless of whether he thought the government's predation would overcome the obstacles or whether he simply did not give the necessary attention to the deal, Lapid's arrogance did him in. Six months into the so-called "change" government, Lapid acted like Netanyahu five years in office and threw caution to the wind. On Friday, he paid a price for this mistake.
Beyond the immediate political calculations, there is a far deeper political significance to the Meretz's MK's resignation. Yamina MK Idit Silman's resignation from the right-wing of the coalition and Rinawie Zoabi's resignation from the left-wing flank make clear this is no unity government. It is a government of extremes that excludes large portions of the people. This is the source of its volatility.
The coalition has not brought change or healing and is now paralyzed in the Knesset. Coalition members once criticized Netanyahu's government for the exact same thing. Isn't it time a brave group of lawmakers came together and restored the stability and sanity to our lives?
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