The Coalition heads met on Tuesday and declared their unwavering support for a unity government based on the conditions set by National Camp Chairman and former defense minister and IDF chief MK Benny Gantz: establishing a limited war cabinet without Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
In other words, the two ministers who represent the sector that sends the largest number of recruits to IDF combat units will be unrepresented in a cabinet that will be making life-and-death decisions for them.
For better or worse, from the exchanges that leak out to the media, it appears that Likud ministers are hell-bent on substituting Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot for Ben Gvir and Smotrich.
A livid Ben Gvir accused Netanyahu and the Likud party of embracing the very chiefs of staff who created the “concept” that Hamas used on Shabbat to massacre hundreds of soldiers, as well as hundreds of innocent civilians. As late as October 1, the IDF military intelligence urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to contribute to peace and tranquility with Hamas by increasing the number of work permits for Gazan day workers in Israel from 17,000 to 20,000. Starting with Gantz, through Esenkot, Kochavi, and Halevi, this was the IDF’s stand. And these are the experts Netanyahu is now welcoming into a unity government – without the two men who have been screaming that the only way for peace was by destroying both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Education Minister Yoav Kish (Likud) said: “Ben Gvir’s statement is unacceptable. A unity government now!” Science Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said that “the people of Israel will neither forget nor forgive” those who try to prevent the establishment of a unity government. Likud Ministers Miki Zohar, Avi Dichter, and Nir Barkat also offered the same messages: in with Gantz, out with Ben Gvir.
There’s a familiar pattern here. In 1985, after Rabbi Meir Kahane had been elected to the Knesset and the polls predicted he would get between six and eight seats in the next Knesset, the right-wing parties in the House promoted an amendment to the Basic Law: The Knesset that one may not be recognized as a candidate for the Knesset if he is inciting racism.
In light of the amendment, the Knesset prevented Kahane and his party from participating in the elections to the Twelfth Knesset in 1988. He was disqualified by the Elections Committee on October 5, 1988, and in an appeal, the Supreme Court confirmed the decision.
As Julius Caesar discovered too late, it’s your friends who push the longest knives into your back. Two years later, Rabbi Kahane was assassinated in Manhattan and the Israeli right breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since Netanyahu cobbled his current government, he was clearly uncomfortable with his alliance with Smotrich and Ben Gvir. They, for their part, had no illusions about what life with Bibi might be like, which is why they spent two months hammering out their coalition agreements with the Israeli politician who reneges on more promises than he makes.
The partnership with the national religious camp cots Netanyahu dearly, but he was forced to accept it because literally all the other Zionist parties boycotted him. After reneging on his promises to so many partners, Bibi had run out of mainstream people who still trusted, never mind liked him.
This horrific war and the national unity government everyone in Israel is yearning for in anticipation of the things we want the IDF to do in Gaza, is a golden opportunity for Netanyahu to be rid of his two unpopular relatives without having to actually sack either one of them. He is only going to deny them access to the war effort, and, naturally, the glory of the victory that will surely come.
Shlomo Filber, a right-wing pollster who ran Netanyahu’s communications ministry during the time the prosecution later suggested the PM was having a corrupt quid pro quo with communications mogul Shaul Elovitch, joined Ben Gvir’s detractors on Tuesday, except he had good advice to offer.
Filber wrote: “Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir asked and was given authority over the most sensitive and dangerous front, which had already erupted in the past in Guardians of the Wall and exacted a heavy toll on lives and property. Unlike the Gaza Strip, here there still exist all the warnings and tangible risks. In every Arab settlement, there are now more gun owners than all the terrorists who infiltrated from Gaza. And they may at any moment fix to get on a vehicle and enter a settlement or city in Israel. Ben Gvir has nothing to look for in the cabinet or the TV studios, nor should he interfere in the management of the campaign in the Gaza Strip for which he is not responsible. His responsibility is to deal 24/7 using 30,000 Israel Police officers with preventing this immediate and tangible danger.”
OK, I must say I agree with Filber. A strangely agreeable ending to a very angry diatribe by yours truly.
