Israel Weekly News Roundup April 2, 2021
5 Things you need to know
The political deadlock after the general elections has left the players confused. Now each of the 13 parties has to decide who it will recommend to President Rivlin to receive the mandate to try and form a coalition.
According to the Israeli system, after all the votes have been counted, the President calls all the parties, one by one, for consultation as to which party leader they each recommend for Prime Minister. He then asks the one that received the most recommendations and has a higher likelihood of forming a government, to undertake the task. This candidate will then have 28 days to do so, with an extension of another 14 days. If he fails, there may be another round of consultations, or the President can just nominate another head of a different party for the task of forming a coalition government.
According to the results of the elections, there are 3 options on the table, none of them easy. The first option is to go to a fifth round of elections.
The second option is a right-wing government, led by Netanyahu. For that to happen, all right-wing parties will have to rally around Netanyahu, even those who specifically announced they will not do so due to his indictment on corruption charges. The other possibility for a Netanyahu led government is for Netanyahu to square the circle and form a coalition that includes an extreme-right anti-Arab Party and the Muslim Arab Party.
The third option is no more likely to happen. This is called the “government of change” and it has to include all anti-Netanyahu parties. The key player now is Naftali Bennet, who leads the right-wing party Yamina, and thus far has not announced whether he wants to join the camp of change or Netanyahu.
The numbers show that even if Bennet joins Netanyahu that will not be enough to form a government and Netanyahu will still need either the Muslim party Ra’am, or another party from the camp of change to join him.
On the other hand, if Bennet joins the camp of change and if all the players in this camp join together, Jewish and Arab parties alike, that will enable the formation of a governing coalition. The big, outstanding question to be resolved in this scenario is, who will be the leader of the camp, in other words who will be nominated by the camp to be Prime Minister. While it is likely to be Yair Lapid, by virtue of the fact that he leads the largest party in this bloc, it is by no means a certainty.
The legal system in Israel is facing another crisis due to the fact that since Thursday there is no Minister of Justice. This is extremely important mainly because PM Netanyahu is under indictment and he is not allowed to make any nominations in the legal system. If there is no minister of justice, all nominations will be suspended, and the ministry and all it’s agencies will be exposed to political attacks and other pressures.
The Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, has served as interim justice minister for the past three months. His term as interim Minister of Justice expired Thursday with the failure to appoint him or anybody else as permanent Minister of Justice.The Ever Given cargo ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal created many delays in shipments to Israel. 20% of Israel’s total imports go through the Suez Canal. This includes all the private and commercial goods and products imported from the Far East. That is the reason for the intense media coverage in Israel of the efforts to move the ship and free the canal. The ship was freed and normal shipping resumed early this week.
Passover in Israel: after a year of on and off lockdowns, and family gatherings via Zoom, Jewish Israelis celebrated Passover Eve (known as the Seder) together with their extended families. Hundreds of thousands of people spent the seven days of Passover in national parks, on beaches, and at other tourist attractions. Eilat hotels and resorts reached full capacity, and the Sinai checkpoint, closed for a year since the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic, opened just before the holiday, allowing 300 vaccinated people to cross the border. Israel saw some of the worst traffic jams ever, with tens of thousands of vehicles stuck for hours on intercity highways as people travelled to be with families and friends for the Seder. All that was possible due to the low percentage of COVID-19 positive tests and the high percentage of vaccinated people.
On the other hand, the IDF announced a general closure on the Gaza border and West Bank, to be lifted on Saturday night, as the holiday ends.
Sinai beaches, this week. Photo credits: Michal Shamir
COVID-19: as Israel seems to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, with more than 5 million people ages 16 and up inoculated, a political controversy now surrounds the purchase of additional vaccine doses, to inoculate the remainder of the population and inject booster shots, as needed. The cabinet meeting scheduled for earlier this week, to approve the allocation of additional funds towards the purchase of 30 million vaccines, was cancelled. While senior health officials warned that the delay may cause a shortage that would put the population at risk, senior officials in the Ministry of Finance criticized PM Netanyahu for moving ahead with a commitment to purchase vaccines without proper process and clear and binding contracts with the pharmaceutical companies.
Israel may be the first country to inoculate adolescents ages 12 – 15 as soon as the Pfizer vaccine is approved by the FDA as safe to administer to this age group.And before we say goodbye, we wanted to let you know that Israeli rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won the gold medal in the all-around individual event at the World Cup competition in Bulgaria. Having passed the qualifying competitions, Ashram, 21, will represent Israel in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, and is considered one of the country’s leading hopes for a medal.
For Further Reading:
On the political deadlock: https://www.timesofisrael.com/daily-briefing-april-1-israeli-political-deadlock-brings-diplomatic-challenges/
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/1617190854-israel-rivlin-receives-official-election-results-hopes-for-out-of-ordinary-coalition
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-political-instability-hampering-tighter-cooperation-with-us/
On the minister of Justice: https://www.timesofisrael.com/gantz-meets-lapid-for-2nd-time-says-hell-back-anyone-who-can-replace-netanyahu/
Passover: Here, here, here, here, here and here
COVID-19: Here, here, here, here
The Ever Given: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/suez-canal-ever-given-ship/2021/03/31/8849b85c-9154-11eb-aadc-af78701a30ca_story.html
Linoy Ashram: Here
Great, concise, informative and clear, Todah Rabah