Lately, a lot of members of the coalition have been piping up and saying that "we can't go on like this," and that the ongoing instability will eventually lead to an early general election. The government is paralyzed, they said, and can't keep the Knesset under control. In the past couple of days, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Education Minister Naftali Bennett have been the main ones saying it, but not the only ones.
To their credit, they are basing their remarks on what appears to be the case, rather than rumors. If it looks like things are out of control and falling apart, then they probably are, they say.
There is one thing these voices haven't taken into account: Benjamin Netanyahu. As far as he is concerned, there won't be an early election. He sees all the apocalyptic and suicidal assessments that want to bring this government to a premature end as background noise. He goes on, and everyone with him does, too. He sees no alternative.
Wednesday proved that. Former Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin joined the coalition leadership team, and he – along with Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and Coalition Chairman MK David Amsalem – managed to push through all the private bills sponsored by coalition MKs denying the opposition a single victory, despite all predictions to the contrary. This wasn't a one-time achievement. From now on, this will be the coalition's working plan. It will enlist all its power to block opposition bills while slowly promoting its own legislation – first, the bills that can attract a broad consensus. The ones that can't, such as the culture loyalty bill, will be promoted more slowly and by taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Like the nation-state law, another major measure from the coalition, which took a few years to pass.
The main problem is not only the freedom of action some coalition MKs – such as Rachel Azaria or Benny Begin – have adopted, but also Kulanu head Moshe Kahlon, who made his own decision to allow members of his party to vote with their conscience. The finance minister first used his special political sense to "assess" when an election would be held, then gave members of his part the freedom to vote, thus ensuring it would happen – a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The High Court of Justice will soon discuss the government's request for an extension to the time allotted to find a solution to the issue of haredi conscription. If the request is denied, the haredi parties will have two choices: either avoid passing a new law and risk the existing law being canceled – which would mean that yeshiva students would be drafted like everyone else – or to allow the government to pass the new bill, despite rabbis' criticism of it, without leaving the coalition once it is enacted with the support of Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beytenu. Netanyahu expects them to go for the second option, which will keep the government and its leader in power for a long time.
