As perhaps you already know, Israel's March 23, 2021 election has--in theory, at least--moved Israel further to the political Right. For example, in the still-current Gantz-Netanyahu 'unity' government, Israel's political Right holds 65 seats in the Knesset. But in the new-incoming Knesset, the political Right in Israel will hold 72 seats (of 120 total seats).
Since most Israeli voters already lean to the political Right, such vote results as described above represent an accurate reflection of Israel's voter preferences: this nation not only leans to the political Right, it also wants a government that will lean more to the Right.
This seemingly perfect match of voter preference with election results suggests that if you supported Israel's Right in the last two elections, you'd expect to be happy today. After all, Israel's newly-selected (not elected) Prime Minister (Naftali Bennett) has already claimed he is more Right-leaning than Netanyahu. That's what voters voted for, right?
Ahh, democracy. This is exactly what democracy is about--giving the voter the power to select which direction the country should go.
Yes, Israelis went to the polls a little more than two-and-a-half months ago. They expressed their political preferences. They voted 'Right'--and that is what they got, right?
Not really. The voters certainly chose in which political direction they want the country to go. But after Israel's self-appointed elite class (that is, Israel's politicians and media leaders) rolled up its sleeves, the voters ended up choosing nothing. They will get nothing.
You see, Israel's new government will not be Right-wing. Instead, if everything goes as planned between today and June 14th (the day the coalition is scheduled to 'go live'), Israel's new government will say it is Right but it will look, smell and act Leftist.
Specifically, here are the numbers. If you support the Right in Israel, you can read these numbers and weep. If you support the Left, you can read these numbers and cheer.
The political Parties within this new 'unity' government represent 61 seats (the minimum for a Knesset majority) made up of eight political Parties (plus one Arab-Islamist Party): Yesh Atid (17 seats); Blue and White (8 seats); Labor (7 seats); Meretz (6 seats); and the Arab-Islamist Ra'am Party (4 seats).
These Center- and Left-leaning (or, purely Leftist) Parties add up to 42 of the coalition's 61 seats. They have a majority in the coalition.
In theory, there will also be four Right- or Right-leaning Parties: Yamina (6 seats); Israel Beiteinu (7 seats); and New Hope (6 seats). But on matters of settlements, sovereignty, the two-state solution, gay rights, how Israel handles the prospect of being placed on trial at the International Criminal court (ICC)--to say nothing about the question of religion in Israel--the Israel Beiteinu Party may in fact vote Left. This means that, for some of Israel's most important Jewish issues, the Right could really have only 12 of the coalition's 61 seats.
Note: for accuracy purposes, the Arab-Islamist Party is counted as part of the coalition. But it is--in theory, at least--not supposed to be part of coalition decision-making. It will no doubt be expected to vote in the Knesset with the Left side of the coalition.
A political imbalance in the coalition that favors the Left does not portend well for Israel's political Right. In fact, this imbalance will spell disaster for Israel's political Right.
There will clearly be more than enough non-Right votes in the coalition to out-vote every idea that is important to the political Right. The coalition will also have too many non-Right votes for the Right to control anything in the coalition.
Yes, there is supposed to be a mechanism in place for the coalition to counter-balance such a Leftist overweighting, but it isn't entirely clear how exactly that would work. Worse, this counter-balance idea, while mentioned in the news, appears to have disappeared from public statements by coalition leaders--suggesting yet another unpleasant sign for the Right's prospects.
So far, in public, Israel's elite has indeed proclaimed that Israel has 'unity'--you know, like these elite influencers did last year for the Gantz-Netanyahu fiasco. Really now, we have just seen the still-current Gantz-Netanyahu 'unity' coalition blow up. Why would a more fractured, politically irreconcilable and more non-Right version of 'unity' be better for Israel's voters?
It won't be. Many in Israel give this coalition little more than six months before we head again to new elections. Is Israel's near-term future destined to fail, not succeed?
Apparently, Israel's elites do not care. They dismiss the voters' voice. They dismiss the supposed reality of the Knesset's make-up (more Right than Left). They ignore the real danger of a dysfunctional coalition actually provoking more Arab anti-Jew riots and attacks, just as similar kinds of Israeli hesitation or weakness has in the past.
Israel's elite class wants only two things; that Israel becomes less religious while Arabs become more influential. Despite what voters have voted for, Israel's elite want a more Progressive Israel, not a more politically Conservative Israel.
The 'unity' desired by Israel's elite does not promise to unify anything or anyone. It will disconnect voters from Israel's political and ideological identity. It will provoke such ruptures between Left and Right and Arab versus Jew as to threaten to tear Israel apart from the inside.
Insanely, Israel's elite really believes this new 'unity' government will heal the nation (here). It will not. When the elite rule supreme over voters, Israel will always be harmed--and this 'unity' arrangement is no exception.
Like it or not, Israel is turning Left. Like it or not, this 'unity' coalition will mean that Israel will face enhanced existential threats, not enhanced prospects of peace or tranquility.
In fact, this 'unity' deal is so suspicious, none of the coalition's agreements have been revealed. This means that no one knows what promises Lapid and Bennett made to convince the political Parties in the coalition to join the coalition (here). If this 'unity' is going to be healing, why such secrecy around those promises? How many acts of corruption and political betrayal have been committed to secure this coalition? We do not know.
This is not democracy in action. It is more like political suicide in the making. Secrecy is not a hallmark of democracy. It is, however, a hallmark of the betrayal of democracy.
For Israel, democracy has been thrown out. Democracy has been replaced by the rule-of-the-elite
Stay tuned. We have not seen the last of Israel's political madness
No comments:
Post a Comment