Bennett says coalition will ‘overcome all its crises,’ deserting lawmaker ‘on her way back’

Read More

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed confidence on Sunday that “the government will overcome all crises,” after another high-profile resignation threatened to topple the minority government

Addressing his cabinet on Sunday, Bennett said “good will” from all parties would ensure the government’s survival, and noted that Meretz lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi seems as though she “is on her way back,” after she quit the coalition on Thursday citing its lurch to the right.

LISTEN: ‘Putin’s own paranoia will bring NATO to his doorstep’

The prime minister added that “if left-wing lawmakers feel the government is too right-wing, and right-wing lawmakers feel the government is too left-wing– then it is a sign that the government is in a good place in the middle.”

“The cracks in the opposition are large, and there is high chance that there will be a break there,” Bennett also noted.

The prime minister said his government helped transition the country from “mass unemployment and record deficit, clashes on the streets of Israel and thousands of rockets from Gaza” to “strong growth and firm handling of security.”

‘Significant progress’ in talks to bring back lawmaker who deserted Israeli coalition, gov’t source says

No to Bennett, no to Netanyahu: Israeli lawmaker speaks out on her resignation

Another member just quit Israel’s coalition. Is a fifth election in three years inevitable?

In the meeting, Bennett also noted the government would put forward a bill funding academic studies for combat soldiers who have completed their compulsory military service, and called on Likud lawmakers to support the law, or to abstain from voting.

Netanyahu and his Likud party announced last week that they intended to oppose the coalition bill on scholarships for soldiers, claiming that the coalition refuses to increase the amount of scholarships to 100 percent. On Wednesday, several lawmakers from the Likud announced that they would vote in favor of the law–contrary to the position of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The cabinet sit down came ahead of a meeting between Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, who quit the coalition on Thursday, and Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid later on Sunday, in a bid to secure a U-turn from the Meretz lawmaker.

She also cited violence at the Temple Mount and the funeral of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as driving the “moral decision.”

Her move left the coalition with just 59 seats, two shy of a majority, after Idit Silman of Bennett’s Yamina party resigned in early April.

On Friday, a government source told Haaretz that “significant progress” was made in talks with Rinawie Zoabi, and that she is expected to reverse her decision in exchange for some concessions from the government.

Ahead of the meeting, here are the five scenarios that could unfold:

1. Zoabi remains in the coalition, coordinating her actions with the United Arab List.

Zoabi’s letter announcing her intentions, and the criticism she’s voiced since submitting it, attest more than anything else to the fact that she wishes to disengage from Meretz and its chairman, Nitzan Horowitz. Ever since she entered the Knesset, Zoabi has been perceived as an oddity, as someone who hasn’t fulfilled the hopes that were pinned on her. “Meretz has no influence or any control over Zoabi,” admitted a senior coalition member, adding that contact with her has been transferred to Mansour Abbas, chairman of the United Arab List. Meretz says that there is a total break between her and party chairman Horowitz, which makes contact with her difficult after her announcement. In her letter, Rinawie Zoabi expressed criticism over the government’s attitude toward the Arab public in Israel, but Abbas is trying to convince her to join him, in an attempt to extract benefits for that public, utilizing the current government for that purpose, instead of undermining it so that it collapses.

2. Zoabi “defects” to the opposition and works in coordination with the Joint List.

Cooperating with the Joint List could increase this party’s leverage vis-?-vis the government, as well as making it easier for its members to cause its demise. Sources in the Joint List said over the weekend that they would not provide a total safety net to the coalition and would support the dissolution of the Knesset, but that they were willing to support government moves on a case-by-case basis. The party has identified an opportunity to go to an election under favorable circumstances, based on surveys predicting a collapse of the United Arab List and gains for the Joint List. Zoabi’s willingness in principle to support the dissolution of the Knesset may help them actualize this when it’s time to decide.

3. Zoabi resigns from the Knesset.

Meretz has expressed some hope that Rinawie Zoabi will ultimately decide to resign from the Knesset. The law does not allow a party to terminate the term of its members, placing the decision in her hands. Such a move would instantly resolve the crisis and avoid a possible disintegration of the government, and will also extricate Meretz from its embarrassing situation, which could impact its chances in the next election. In an interview with Haaretz, Rinawie Zoabi did not dismiss this option. “I don’t know what’s in store,” she said in reply to a question on this matter.

4. She returns to Meretz.

Rinawie Zoabi may retract her declarations and continue cooperating with the coalition from within the ranks of Meretz. The chances of this happening are not high, mainly given the scathing criticism of her party she expressed over the weekend. “For the people who are supposed to represent Meretz, is being in the government all that matters? Are there no principles?” she lashed out at her caucus members in an interview with Haaretz. “I’m amazed anew each time the Jewish Israeli left wants us Arabs to save them from Netanyahu, while at the same time telling us to do what they want without us having the right to an opinion. It doesn’t work that way in a true partnership. If Netanyahu returns, it will be the fault of Gantz and Shaked.”

5. She forms a one-person faction.

Rinawie Zoabi may strike out on her own and act independently, as a one-person faction. With growing assessments of a Knesset dissolution, she may wish to end her term honorably in the eyes of her voters, to vote according to her conscience on different proposals and to try to promote, as much as she can, the interests she wishes to advance. Even if this helps her in terms of her conscience and values, this would be political suicide. Like Amichai Chikli, she would be declared a rogue party member and expelled, precluding her from serving in the next Knesset.