Israel's New Coalition Is The Stuff Of Benjamin Netanyahu's Nightmares
The prime minister's senior partners in Israel's new government, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, are the faces of the younger generation that will one day usurp him, and he knows they can unseat him at any time.
By Yossi Verter | Mar.15, 2013 | 7:45 PM
The 32nd government of the State of Israel met in Jerusalem on Sunday morning for its last meeting and summarizing session. Four full years, who would have believed it. The meeting’s agenda had already been set. There was nothing earth-shattering about it: discussion of International Women’s Day, a report by the public security minister on the activities of his ministry during the term; discussion of the status of senior government officials during their “cooling-off” year.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a burst of spontaneity, decided that in addition to Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch all the ministers present would give a short report on the activities of each of their ministries. And after everyone had gone on and on ad infinitum, Netanyahu embarked on a report of his own, detailed the achievements of his government, which he said were world-encompassing.
He even went so far as to say that no other Israeli government could boast so many achievements. At the end of his self-aggrandizing address Netanyahu praised the work of the cabinet ministers who were not in attendance. These included figures from Shas and United Torah Judaism, who had boycotted the meeting in anger, and also Likud's own Gilad Erdan, the environmental protection minister. Unlike his ultra-Orthodox colleagues, Erdan was unable to attend. But Erdan, whose political future is unclear, may soon have cause for anger himself.
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