Ultimately, it will have to end in compromise. Yamina needs to be part of the new government. This appears to be what most of the party's supporters want, along with many Likud voters. It's also common sense.
Yamina, a member of the nationalist camp, will be of no benefit in a barren opposition. To balance what party officials described on Sunday as a left-wing government, it must be in the coalition. The rotation government that will be sworn in on Wednesday will be more balanced, and the voice of the ideological right will be heard around the cabinet table. Against Avi Nissenkorn in the Justice Ministry, Benny Gantz in the Defense Ministry and Gabi Ashkenazi in the Foreign Ministry โ Yamina mustn't merely receive influential, significant operational portfolios; it must also adjoin with Likud ministers to guard Netanyahu's right flank. It cannot do this from the benches of the opposition, where the shouts are loud and voices are perhaps better heard, but the actual influence is marginal at best.
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The problem with the political standoff between Likud and Yamina is that both sides are right. Yamina is right in claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu is taking it for granted and treating it as expendable: When he needed it to preserve the integrity of the right-wing bloc, which ultimately helped him retain the premiership, he promised the party the moon and stars and even rewarded it with three senior ministerial portfolios (defense, education, transportation) to stay with him.
Now he is abandoning a loyal partner without which he wouldn't have a government. The Likud, for its part, is right that Yamina's demands are excessive; that the party's relatively paltry election showing, resulting in just six mandates, doesn't justify giving it four or even three portfolios, even despite the commendable performances of Bennett, Ayelet Shaked and Bezalel Smotrich.
Either way โ in the current political reality, Yamina does not and cannot have the same political leverage it had in the previous government. For one simple reason: The government couldn't have survived without it, and now, it can โ though this would be extremely undesirable because the voice of Yamina and the religious-Zionist camp (despite its internal divisions) is an integral voice in the Zionistic enterprise of our times.
Netanyahu will be making a crucial ethical mistake, and perhaps a political one as well if he fails to recognize this and refuses to bend further. Despite his difficulties within Likud, he still has some wiggle room with Bennett and Shaked. The Health Ministry is one possible card, as is the option of giving Yamina two ministers instead of one in the diplomatic-security cabinet.
Yamina itself would do well to focus its demands on the fundamental issues its constituents hold dear, such as Jerusalem, the settlements and the justice system. Maybe in these areas, it will be easier for Netanyahu to meet the party's demands. After a short trial period in the government, it can always resign, if it believes it has lost its ability to influence policy. In the meantime, its efforts will have to come from the inside, the anger and insult notwithstanding.
