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regarding Iran or the Palestinians and against religious and Charedi Jews pool of voting Israeli Arabs. This may
any coalition government he might and “disloyal” Israeli Arabs are wear- deprive Yesh Atid of Knesset seats that
craft inevitably will be dependent on, ing thin. are crucial to blocking a Netanyahu
and hampered by, Arab parties. coalition. Mansour Abbas’ Islamist
Labor
National Unity Once the ruling party of Israel, Labor Arab Ra’am was the first-ever Arab
party to serve in government (over the
Benny Gantz promises “clean govern- has shrunk to a bare minimum of past year), a fact that some celebrated
ment”, meaning a government without Knesset seats and gone through
Netanyahu, while remaining mum on more rapid leadership changes than and others mourned. If Ra’am crosses
the threshold, it could join either Net-
just about every other concrete issue. any other party in politics. Its current
The fact that his party has flipped leader, Merav Michaeli, refused to anyahu or Lapid in government again.
wildly in and out of government coali- merge with the even farther left-wing Given the repeat near-stalemate that
tions over the past five years, and that Meretz party, which puts both at risk is predicted by many pollsters, Israeli
each of his previous senior partners of failing to cross the 3.25% threshold President Yitzchak Herzog says that
have abandoned the party (remember for representation in Knesset. he will work to establish a national
his “Blue and White” platform with unity government when the voting is
Bogie Yaalon, Gabi Ashkenazi, and Meretz done, and the polls show that many
Avi Nissenkorn…?), gives the party a This equivocally Zionist party served Israelis prefer this. But Netanyahu’s
reputational problem. It remains to be in government this past year for the ongoing criminal trials pose a problem
seen whether the move to this party first time in its history, which actually for voters on the left and center-left,
of Likud and Yamina politicians like angered its far-left electorate. Zehava and Netanyahu says he will only form
Gideon Saar, Zeev Elkin, and Matan Gal-On has returned to party leader- a “full right” government.
Kahana, or the addition of former IDF ship promising to end all state reli-
chief of staff General Gadi Eisencott, gious structures if Meretz gets another In the meantime, there are several
will improve the party’s fortunes. cabinet post. pressing issues that require the full
Religious Zionism United Torah Judaism attention of a stable Israeli govern-
ment, ranging from confronting Iran
Betzalel Smotrich (National Union) Once again, Degel HaTorah (“Lith- and Hezbollah to addressing the spi-
and Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) uanian” Mitnagdim) and Agudat Yis- raling cost of living (especially hous-
are now joined by Avi Maoz (Noam) rael (Chassidic factions) are running ing), to halting Palestinian takeover
in a solidly right-wing and Religious uncomfortably together on one of Area C in Judea and Samaria, and
Zionist coalition. Will their aggregate Charedi umbrella list. They were stopping Bedouin sprawl and crime in
total be greater than the sum of their brought together by a Netanyahu the Negev. Pray that Israel is blessed
parts, and will their gains be sufficient promise to fully fund all their school with a stable government for a full
to help Netanyahu form a government systems even if they refuse to teach term, one way or another.
alongside Charedi parties? the Ministry of Education’s “core cur-
riculum” (i.e., basic math, science, and
Bayit Yehudi English). David M. Weinberg is a senior fellow at The
After leapfrogging from party to Kohelet Forum and at Israel’s Defense and
party alongside her political partner Shas Security Forum (Habithonistim). His op-ed
Naftali Bennett (from Bayit Yehudi/ With Sephardic spiritual icons Rav articles appear weekly in The Jerusalem
Jewish Home to New Right, to Yamina, Ovadia Yosef and Rav Shalom Cohen Post and Israel Hayom, and can be read at
to Zionist Spirit), Ayelet Shaked has both deceased, Aryeh Deri’s Chare- davidmweinberg.com
now reverted to Bayit Yehudi (along- di-national political party is no longer
side Yossi Brodny and Amitai Porat). growing but it is holding its own, and
This is a remnant of the longtime, certainly will back Netanyahu as first
mainstream NRP (National Religious preference for prime minister in the
Party), holder of the iconic “Bet” elec- post-election coalition jockeying.
toral symbol. Shaked now “regrets” Arab-led parties
serving in the outgoing Bennett-Lapid
government and says that Bayit Yehudi The Joint List coalition splintered last
would support only a Netanyahu-led month, with the Balad faction break-
coalition. ing away from Hadash-Ta’al
– throwing the
Yisrael Beiteinu future of all fac-
Avigdor Liberman’s fortunes seem tions into doubt,
to be fading as his old-time Russian as they will split
immigrant voter base shrinks, and his votes from a
fierce campaigns of the past decade fairly small

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