Given the current array of parties in the Knesset, it seems possible if not likely that Israel will have another election this fall—which would be the fifth since April 2019. Efraim Inbar argues that this ongoing instability has deleterious consequences:
When he took office, the IDF chief of staff Aviv Kochavi sought to implement a military plan for the years 2020-2024, dubbed “Momentum.” Due to the political instability and the coronavirus crisis, the plan did not receive orderly approval from the political echelon and is not backed by multiyear budgetary authorization. Although the IDF is executing the plan as best as possible with the resources currently allocated to it, there is considerable uncertainty about its full implementation.
Furthermore, the decision-making process on key security issues unquestionably has been harmed. The political echelon is preoccupied with managing political crises and election campaigns. The time left for Israeli politicians to think seriously about security challenges is limited. Although professional echelons of the defense establishment continue to work and make recommendations, they cannot take major decisions without the involvement at the senior political level.
The complicated political situation also raises difficulties in Israel’s foreign relations, particularly with countries with which Israel recently has reached peace agreements. These countries are unaccustomed to weaknesses of democracy itself and are unfamiliar with the vagaries of Israel’s political system. Instead, Arab countries have preferred to see Israel as a stable and strong country with which long-term enterprises can be comfortably concluded. But Israel’s lingering political crises cast a shadow over this assumption and create discomfort among Israel’s new partners.
Read more on Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security: https://jiss.org.il/en/inbar-israels-protracted-political-crisis-harms-national-security/