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Tel Aviv – Israel is heading for new legislative elections, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main partner in government, the head of the Blue and White coalition Benny Gantz, failed to resolve the dispute over the state budget.
Gantz wanted to go to vote on the approval of a unified budget for the years 2020 and 2021 in the Knesset, pushing Netanyahu into a corner, but the latter seized the opportunity in light of the divisions plaguing the White and Blue Alliance, pushing new elections through which it seeks to form a net right-wing government coalition.
Observers believe that Netanyahu’s enthusiasm for new elections may not be appropriate, especially in light of the rise of the main arena-level poles on the right, including the right-wing party led by Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar, who recently resigned from Likud and formed a party called “New Hope”.
Under the law, the lack of budget approval on time leads to elections in March. These elections will be the fourth in less than two years, reflecting the existence of a major crisis in the Israeli electoral system.
The holding of elections will launch Netanyahu onto a battlefield to stay in the light of mounting public anger at the approach he took to dealing with the Corona crisis and the criminal corruption charges leveled against him in court, but he is betting on the disintegration of the central axis represented by Blue and White, the weakness of the left, as well as its hope that control will lead. In the Corona pandemic, with the start of vaccination in Israel, its declining popularity has grown.
Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, and Defense Minister Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party, formed a unity government last May after three inconclusive elections since April 2019.
According to his agreement, Gantz will assume the position of prime minister next November and will approve a budget for the years 2020 and 2021, which Netanyahu sought to avoid, and this was expected from the beginning, as many analysts confirmed that the Likud leader would not resign. at your expense and would not accept a unified budget.
Analysts said Netanyahu had wanted to hold elections in May or June next year after the Crown crisis had subsided and the economy began to improve, hoping to win a parliamentary majority that would grant him immunity and delay the trial.
But holding elections in March poses a serious risk to Israel’s oldest leader. “It’s a completely new game,” said Revuin Hazan, a professor in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University. “Netanyahu now faces greater danger … The chances that he will not become prime minister are stronger than before.”
Netanyahu has denied pushing for snap elections and has blamed the political unrest on Blue and White. The impasse pushed the Israeli economy into greater uncertainty at the end of the year, and the recession caused by the pandemic is expected to reduce GDP by 4.5%, and the unemployment rate to remain at 12.1%.
Hazan said Netanyahu is likely to play in the upcoming elections over the country’s vaccination campaign, which began this week, in addition to his diplomatic credit following a series of deals with the Gulf countries, Sudan and Morocco, which were concluded with the mediation of the United States.
Netanyahu enjoys a close relationship with President Donald Trump, who took a number of steps in support of Israel in previous elections. But Hazan says that with the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden in January, Netanyahu will lose an important asset in his election campaign.
