{"id":5833,"date":"2013-03-11T23:59:02","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T05:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=5833"},"modified":"2013-03-12T08:41:24","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T14:41:24","slug":"netanyahu-with-team-of-rivals-puts-together-new-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/netanyahu-with-team-of-rivals-puts-together-new-govt\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu, with team of rivals, puts together new government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By BEN SALES<\/p>\n<p>TEL AVIV (JTA) &#8212; He\u2019s had to bite a few bullets to get there, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead Israel\u2019s next government.<\/p>\n<p>Barring a last-minute surprise, Israel\u2019s new governing coalition will be sworn in this week: a center-right grouping of Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing Likud-Beiteinu faction, the centrist Yesh Atid party, the religious nationalist Jewish Home party, the center-left Hatnua led by Tzipi Livni and the tiny, centrist Kadima.<\/p>\n<p>In total, the coalition will include 70 of the Knesset\u2019s 120 members.<\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s priorities will be to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, enact budget reform, expand Israel\u2019s mandatory military conscription and lower the cost of living, according to Netanyahu.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5853\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5853\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5853 lazyload\" title=\".\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/199;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5853\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5853 \" title=\".\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Netanyahu-cabinet-meeting-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5853\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leading the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, March 10, 2013. (Miriam Alster\/FLASH90\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAbove all,\u201d Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, the next government must address \u201cthe major security challenges that are piling up around us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The coalition deal is a bittersweet victory for the prime minister. He won a disappointing 31 seats at the ballot box in January. That divided vote has turned into a divided government that he\u2019ll have to lead with ambitious rivals by his side.<\/p>\n<p>The divisions have grown more intense since the election, as Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett formed an alliance after the vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a much weaker prime minister,\u201d said Hebrew University political science professor Shlomo Avineri. \u201cWe see the emergence of two popular leaders who are not constrained by internal party institutions and can dictate to their own parties whatever policies they wish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By forming the coalition days before his final deadline of March 16, Netanyahu gains another term as prime minister. And because his party will control the Foreign and Defense ministries &#8212; Likud\u2019s Moshe Ya&#8217;alon is slated to be the next defense minister \u2013 Netanyahu will be able to preserve the status quo regarding security issues and Iran.<\/p>\n<p>And Israelis shouldn\u2019t expect a renewed peace process with the Palestinians. Hatnua supports a two-state solution, while Jewish Home resolutely opposes a Palestinian state, as do many in Likud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think there is any chance of a final-status agreement with the Palestinians,\u201d Avineri said, but \u201cpartial agreements\u201d could be possible.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu will serve as foreign minister while former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Netanyahu\u2019s No. 2, fights corruption charges. Should he be acquitted, he will return to the post. Lapid, who has said he wants to be prime minister, had fought hard in negotiations for the foreign minister post.<\/p>\n<p>In managing his coalition, Netanyahu\u2019s biggest challenge will be including haredi Orthodox men in Israel\u2019s mandatory draft &#8212; one of Israel\u2019s burning political issues. Yesh Atid campaigned on a platform of drafting nearly all haredi men, who currently receive exemptions if they stay in yeshiva. Along with Bennett, a pro-settler politician who strongly favors haredi conscription, Lapid has been pushing for a strict draft law.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5854\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5854\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5854 lazyload\" title=\".\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5854\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5854 \" title=\".\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Lapid-driving-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5854\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid driving back from a meeting about forming a new coalition with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett at the Prime Minister&#39;s Office in Jerusalem, March 10, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not wanting to alienate the haredim &#8212; a traditional support base for Netanyahu &#8212; the prime minister has pushed for a more lenient version. The compromise, according to the latest Israeli reports, will be that haredim will be subject to the draft at age 22, not 18, like the rest of Israelis. And up to 2,000 haredim could continue to receive exemptions, far higher than the limit of 400 that Lapid had sought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new political leaders are capable of reaching an agreement that will gradually change the rules of the game,\u201d Bar-Ilan University political science professor Eytan Gilboa said.<\/p>\n<p>Avineri says he\u2019s skeptical the haredim will obey any draft law reached without the imprimatur of the haredi parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only way of seriously extending the haredi draft is to do it with negotiations with at least one of the haredi parties and getting a wishy-washy compromise,\u201d Avineri said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going get it by drafting thousands of haredim against their will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Draft reform is one of Lapid\u2019s signature issues, but his more difficult task may be succeeding as finance minister. For a media personality who decided to enter politics a little more than a year ago with a campaign that promised common-sense policies and \u201cnew politics,\u201d it will be a challenge to maintain his appeal while actually being a politician.<\/p>\n<p>Lapid\u2019s campaign slogan was \u201cWhere\u2019s the money?\u201d and he promised not to raise taxes on the middle class. Facing a budget deficit of $10 billion, Lapid may become the face of some unpopular spending cuts or tax hikes.<\/p>\n<p>It could condemn the fate of his Yesh Atid to that of other Israeli centrist parties that flared and burned out. Kadima, for example, dominated Israeli politics after being founded in 2005 by Ariel Sharon, and it won 28 seats in the previous elections, in 2009. But this year it squeaked into the Knesset with just two.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLapid is in danger,\u201d said Hebrew University professor Gideon Rahat. \u201cWhat happened to the rest of the centrist parties is they disappeared in two or three years. But if he does things differently, he may be able to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For his part, the ambitious Bennett, formerly Netanyahu\u2019s chief of staff, reportedly does not get along with the prime minister. Personal rivalries could cause rifts in the government should Bennett, Lapid and Netanyahu disagree on sensitive issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are too many internal coalitions inside this coalition,\u201d Gilboa said. \u201cThe prime minister is not good at resolving coalition disagreements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu\u2019s main threat, however, may come from outside the coalition. Usually part of the government, the Knesset\u2019s haredi parties &#8212; Shas and United Torah Judaism &#8212; have been excluded this term because they oppose drafting haredim. They have vowed a rigorous fight with the coalition. The opposition leader will be Labor, with whom the haredi parties share support for progressive economic policies.<\/p>\n<p>Gilboa said that Israeli public support of draft reform will drown out haredi protest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the haredim will fight the government on economic issues, but I think the Israeli public in general will support reforms,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I would advise the new politicians to go slowly and cautiously.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Netanyahu%2C%20with%20team%20of%20rivals%2C%20puts%20together%20new%20government\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1794],"tags":[1320,8781,8790,2188,8795,1321,86,2219,8788,515,674],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5833"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5857,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5833\/revisions\/5857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}