Who Got What In Israel's Coalition

[oberliner]

After nearly six weeks of poker-like negotiations, Israel seems to have a government. It contains Likud-Beiteinu (an electoral alliance of Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu), Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua, Jewish Home, and Yesh Atid (Kadima was left out). At 68 MKs, it’s not the most stable. It’s also noteworthy that it took so long, and the gaps were so difficult to narrow. I’d argue this is a sign that the coalition embedded too many contradictions into its foundation. These will make it hard for the government to last its full term.

Still, it is remarkable in a number of ways because of the changes it will make and because it’s a real test for new leaders Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

For the first time since Ariel Sharon’s 2003 to 2005 government, no haredi party (Shas or United Torah Judaism) was part of the initial formation of the government. In addition, while Jewish Home falls into the cluster of religious parties (entrenching Judaic norms in the polity are one of its goals), it has other political, economic, and social concerns at this point. This government is, therefore, the most centrist-secular since Menachem Begin’s first government (1977 to 1981).

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/14/who-got-what-in-israel-s-coalition.html

[Ken Burch]

1. well, Kadima only got two seats...why WOULDN'T they be left out?

And Kadima was actually lucky to get those two seats...it was polling at total seatlessness for most of the campaign. It wouldn't surprise me to see those two eventually join Labor or maybe Hatnua.

I think this will probably end Livni and Lapid's careers-which is sad in Livni's case, but to be expected in Lapid's, since his whole political program was based on his sense of entitlement and his belief in the infallibility of his own charisma-beyond that, he really had nothing to offer, and he has proved that he never cared about challenging the power of the ultra-religious by joining a government that will just keep on kowtowing to them.

[oberliner]

3. I guess you haven't been following things very closely

Just a few weeks ago, Yesh Atid, Jewish Home and Kadima parties formed a bloc, arguing that they would only join the coalition as a trio.

Now it seems that two are joining without the third partner.

[Ken Burch]

5. OK, I did miss that...then again, they wouldn't be the first politicians to break their word.

It still amazes me that Yesh and Jewish Home would form a bloc...they represent constituencies that basically despise each other and have nothing in common-what could possibly be the common ground?

[oberliner]

7. Can't argue with that

Politics does make for some strange bedfellows - especially when you have this kind of system.

Imagine if the US had something similar.

[Ken Burch]

16. I thought Bennett's party WAS religious.

You're saying they aren't?

[Ken Burch]

18. Thanks for the clarification.

Still, Lapid just proved that he's no centrist if he's willing to ally himself with the West Bank whackjobs.

[azurnoir]

2. conspicuous in its total absence is the word settler Naftali Bennett's party is just that a settler

party who's ideologies include : Religious Zionism, Ultra-nationalism, Greater Israel, and Conservatism, to call this a centrist secular government is a sugar coating so thick IMO that I'm surprised I didn't have a toothache after reading this



[

[oberliner]

4. The word settlement does appear in the article

It's not in the excerpt, but it shows up later in the piece.

[azurnoir]

6. I read the entire article

could you post the part where it occurs?

[oberliner]

8. 6th para from the end

The one that begins with his name.

[azurnoir]

9. it sugar coats quite seriously this : Moshe Ya'alon settler is Defense Minister

here is the quote

Bennett will have to fight to remain at the top, then. He’s off to a good start. He got everything he needed: he’s in the coalition; he’s got important ministries—Economy and Trade, Housing (where he can influence though not determine settlement policy),

so yes I will concede you are correct however settler is mentioned once near the end

[oberliner]

10. Where does Moshe Ya'alon live?

You keep calling him a settler.

Does that mean you think he lives in a settlement or just that he is right wing?

[azurnoir]

11. so you deny that Ya'alon supports the settlers:)

please I do so enjoy these semantic nit pickings they say oh so much so let's keep it up

[oberliner]

13. I do?

Not sure where you got that.

I just wasn't sure if you meant "settler" as just a general pejorative or what.

Of course he supports the settlements. Vehemently so.

I was asking if you thought he lived in a settlement.

[azurnoir]

12. Israel's new defence minister champion of settlers

Through a long military career, Yaalon burnished his image as a hardliner who backs the idea of a Greater Israel encompassing all of the occupied Palestinian territories.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130317/israels-new-defence-minister-champion-settlers

split hairs however you wish the OP glossed this over to put it mildly, and if one did not know better they would come away with a very false impression of this new Israeli government

[oberliner]

14. Scary

He is bad news.

[Jefferson23]

19. Opinion:

snip* Never before has an Israeli government been so firmly and formally in the control of the settlement movement. Pro-settlement politicians, many themselves settlers, now run the Defense, Foreign and Housing Ministries, as well as the powerful Knesset Finance Committee.

At the same time, never in the near half-century of the occupation, has grass-roots Israeli sympathy for settlement been more tepid, more brittle, more vulnerable to revelations about the decades of under-the-table funding which have diverted huge sums away from social needs within Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/obama-in-key-speech-to-target-israelis-who-could-make-or-break-a-future-peace-1.510868/obama-in-key-speech-to-target-israelis-who-could-make-or-break-a-future-peace-1.510868

[oberliner]

20. A Special Place in Hell

Always makes for an interesting read.

[Jefferson23]

21. I don't find his writings to always be an interesting read.

What do you find interesting about this piece, oberliner?

[oberliner]

22. I was being sarcastic

I don't like him either.

[Jefferson23]

23. Who do you, like?

Unlike you, I do find some pieces noteworthy, like this one.

[oberliner]

24. Good question

I tend to be more aware of the writers I don't like than those I do. I'll have to get back to you on that.