[ad_1]
Israel’s coalition government collapsed after nine months and the country launches a new electoral campaign, which will be in the wake of the crown crisis. Although the country has already started large-scale vaccinations, something that benefits Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in public opinion, at the same time, the spread of the infection is increasing and a third shutdown is expected soon.
– I did not want elections, but if there are elections, we will win big. The Israelis appreciate our leadership and our great successes. We have obtained millions of doses of vaccines, we have normalized relations with four Arab countries and our economy is among the strongest in the world, says Benjamin Netanyahu.
Threat from the right
The Prime Minister claims to have been victorious, but this time he faces great challenges. He and his right-wing Likud party are used to fighting center-left parties. But now the threat comes from the right.
Popular politician Gideon Sa’ar left Likud this week and formed the New Hope party. He is an old rival of Netanyahu and explains that his goal is to remove him from power.
Not for ideological reasons, but because he and many Israelis view Netanyahu as corrupt. A corruption trial against the prime minister will begin in January. He is accused of bribery, fraud and infidelity against the principal.
Agreement on “rotation”
In March last year, Netanyahu formed a broad government across the bloc’s borders with Benny Gantz, a former general and leader of the center-right Blåvitt party. Their parties were roughly the same size and they agreed to cooperate during the pandemic crisis. Under his “rotation” agreement, Gantz became defense minister and deputy prime minister, and would replace Netanyahu as prime minister after mid-term.
The coalition agreement sparked a storm of protest in Gantz’s own party because he had vowed never to rule with Netanyahu. His party split, half remained in opposition.
There was never cooperation in the government. It was clear from the start that Netanyahu never intended to hand over power when Gantz’s time came, and he constantly subjected Gantz, who had no political experience, to further humiliations.
Parliament was dissolved
At 23 o’clock on Tuesday Swedish time, that is, at midnight Israeli time, the sad spectacle ended. Then the parliament, the Knesset, was automatically dissolved because a decision had not been made on a state budget for 2020. Therefore, Israel will go to a new election in March next year.
Netanyahu used the budget as a weapon to crack down on the government, though he would have preferred the elections a little later next year, when all Israelis are vaccinated and the economy has started to recover after the crisis.
Netanyahu accuses Gantz and his Blåvitt party of forcing new elections, while Gantz, in turn, accuses Netanyahu.
Charged for three charges
“A man accused of a crime and accused of three counts is dragging the country into four electoral campaigns. If there was no pending trial, there would be a budget and there would be no other option.”says Blåvitt in a statement.
According to opinion polls released Tuesday night, Netanyahu’s Likud party leads with about 30 of 120 seats in parliament, followed by defector Gideon Sa’ar’s new right-wing New Hope party, which gets around 20 seats.
Benny Gantz Blåvitt occupies 5 seats and risks falling below the threshold of parliament.
