Monthly Archives: March 2021

Mexican Standoff – Israel Style

Party leaders in Israel's March 23, 2021 elections. Top row left to right: Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit, part of the Religious Zionism party); Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism); Naftali Bennett (Yamina); Aryeh Deri (Shas); Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism). Middle row left to right: Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu); Gideon Sa'ar (New Hope); Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud); Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid); Merav Michaeli (Labor). Bottom row left to right: Benny Gantz (Blue and White); Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz); Ayman Odeh (Joint List); Mansour Abbas (Ra'am); Yaron Zelekha (New Economy party). (All photos: Flash90)

Party leaders in Israel’s March 23, 2021 elections. Top row left to right: Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit, part of the Religious Zionism party); Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism); Naftali Bennett (Yamina); Aryeh Deri (Shas); Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism). Middle row left to right: Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu); Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope); Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud); Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid); Merav Michaeli (Labor). Bottom row left to right: Benny Gantz (Blue and White); Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz); Ayman Odeh (Joint List); Mansour Abbas (Ra’am); Yaron Zelekha (New Economy party). (All photos: Flash90. Montage: The Times of Israel)

On 23 March, Israeli citizens went to the polls for the fourth time in less than two years. And surprise surprise: they may have to go again in six months’ time, after what seems to be another dead-locked election result.

The reason for this election was because the Netanyahu-Ganz coalition became dysfunctional. The two leaders had a very strict agreement as to how they would share power, which was meant to see Benny Ganz stepping into the Prime Ministerial role in November 2021. But it became clear that Netanyahu would try to escape this agreement. The only possible way was if the Knesset failed to pass the budget by the final deadline, which would automatically lead to an election. This is exactly what happened.

As in the previous three election campaigns, there were two competing camps. But if in previous rounds it was the right-wing + Haredim vs the centre-left, this time it would be personal: The Bibi Block vs The Block for the replacement of Bibi Netanyahu (The Contra Bibi Block CBB). This latter block also includes parties which are clearly right-wing, such as Tikva Hadasha (New Hope), led by former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar. The final result is a “Mexican Stand Off – Israeli style”: out of the 120 Knesset seats, Netanyahu’s block won 53 (30 of them, Likud); the competing block holds 57 seats. In between, there are two parties which have not committed to either block. They are Yamina (Modern-Orthodox right-wing, led by Naftali Bennet) with seven seats and Ra’am (the Islamic Movement) with four seats.

So what’s next? On 5th April, President Rivlin will meet with party leaders to hear who they will support as the next PM. Two days later, he’ll give one MP (probably either Netanyahu or Yair Lapid, leader of centrist Yesh Atid) the mandate to try to form a government within 28 days. If that fails, other MPs will be given the opportunity to try to form a government over a one month period. If they fail, Israel will go to a fifth election in two years.

Currently it is difficult to see a way out of this mess, because neither camp has the 61 seats required to form a coalition government. Furthermore, the Contra Bibi Block isn’t really an alliance, because it includes left-wing, centre, right-wing and the Arab parties that aren’t keen to sit together in government. There are many possible scenarios out of this impasse, but in Israel, as you know, you never know what tomorrow will bring. The same as after the previous elections, virtually no-one imagined there would be a Netanyahu-Ganz alliance. We may well find ourselves with a creative or surprising solution soon.

ARZA Australia thanks Sefi Shalam, our Netzer Shaliach, for this piece. We look forward to Israel accepting that there are major problems with its electoral system, which has for some time, failed to deliver sustainably stable government.

ARZA President, Helen Shardey

Helen Shardey
ARZA Australia President

Sefi Shalam
Netzer Shaliach

2021-03-31T10:19:32+11:00March 31st, 2021|News|

Is the Electoral System in Israel broken?

With the 4th Israeli election since April 2019 fast approaching there is now, sadly, talk of the need for a 5th election in August. One would have to question why and wonder if the electoral system in Israel is broken?

Here in Australia we have been spoilt with expert political commentators and speakers from Israel and the United States. In particular, the Australian Progressive Movement brought us Amir Tibon from Ha’aretz as part of the launch of the Progressive Appeal.

Other organisations such as the Australian Zionist Federation, Gusti Braverman from the World Zionist Organization,  and AIJAC have also introduced us to some fascinating individuals. These have included the leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Mirav Michaeli, correspondents Tali Schneider, Danielle Pletka and others. This is aside from those Australian leaders in our Jewish community who are also expressing their views.

The general view amongst the experts seems to be that there are two main voting blocs in Israel. Those with loyalty to Netanyahu including Likud and the religious parties on the one hand and the right wing, secular and left wing parties on the other. If either bloc manages to win a majority of Knesset seats, (61 seats) there is no guarantee that they will be able to form a Coalition to govern. This means it is also unknown at this stage who could be Prime Minister…..Netanyahu, Sa’ar, Bennett, Gantz, Lapid or someone yet to be identified?

According to the commentators, it is also clear that the Ultra Orthodox will only support the party which will give them a weakened Supreme Court; this is thought to be Likud under Netanyahu. This is because the Supreme Court has just delivered a decision to recognise non-Orthodox Israeli conversion. To the Ultra-Orthodox this and other pluralist and equality based decisions reduces their power.

Australians used to our electoral system must find the Israeli system puzzling. There is only one house in the Knesset, no upper houses to provide what Australians consider to be a check and/or balance. There are no electorates, so each member of the Knesset is first and only a member of a party, not representing a community of people in a geographic area, just a community based on maybe religious belief, philosophical belief or power.

The voting system is Proportional Representation. Successful parties merely have to achieve a percentage of votes to reach the threshold for a Knesset seat. The votes for an unsuccessful party are therefore lost. Voters are not given the option of preferences as they are in Australia.

An interesting conclusion for the Progressive Movement is that if the Netanyahu bloc is not successful, the government of Israel would not include the Ultra- Orthodox. This means that with the non-Orthdox community gaining strength and more Israelis finding Progressive/Reform, Conservative more appealing, much could be achieved through the Knesset, without relying on the Supreme Court.

ARZA President, Helen Shardey

Helen Shardey
ARZA Australia President

2021-03-18T18:26:46+11:00March 18th, 2021|Events, News|
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