On Wednesday, the Knesset elected Israel’s next present, Isaac Herzog, who will assume office on July 9. Later the same day, Yair Lapid presented a coalition agreement to the current president, Reuven Rivlin. If the proposed coalition survives until its formal ratification by the Knesset, Naftali Bennett—who has spent the last several years trying to outflank the incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu from the right—will become the next prime minister. The agreement stipulates that Lapid, who leads the center-left party Yesh Atid, will replace Bennett after two years.
Daniel Gordis explains that the new government, although “rickety,” actually demonstrates the solidity of the Israeli center, and not only because it pulls together eight parties from across the political spectrum. He goes on to make some other observations:
Bennett will be Israel’s first religious, kippah-wearing prime minister. That reflects many important shifts in Israeli life. . . . Lapid, to my knowledge, will be the first prime minister who belongs to a Reform synagogue.
One New York Times headline declared that many Palestinians were viewing Israel’s developing political story with “little more than a shrug.” That’s not terribly surprising, since when it comes to the Palestinians, Israelis are fairly united, left and right. There’s no deal with the Palestinians looming anywhere on the horizon, regardless of which parties form the coalition.
[As if to explain why], another New York Times article noted that “The presence of Mr. Bennett at the threshold of power is testament to how Mr. Netanyahu has helped shift the pendulum of Israeli politics firmly to the right.” This, though, ignores the fact that the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected overtures from Israeli leaders. . . . Israeli politics moved to the right not because of Netanyahu, . . . but because even centrist and left-of-center Israelis have despaired of the Palestinians making a deal.
The two-state solution is alive and well—in the imaginations of Americans. Closer to home, it’s tragically seen as an idea out of a Disney movie: a sweet and enchanting idea for an ending to the story, utterly unrelated to the world we actually inhabit.
Read more on Israel from the Inside: https://danielgordis.substack.com/p/is-bibi-out-its-far-from-clear