Political instability has rattled Israel for the last five years due to four separate elections and indictments on corruption for their former prime minister. That prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, won a parliamentary majority in the Israeli Knesset last week after aligning with two ultra-orthodox parties to secure a 64 seat majority out of the 120 possible.
Netanyahu and his Likud party were ousted in Jan. of 2021 by a coalition of eight political parties who shared incredibly disparate views on how Israel should be run. When the fragile coalition collapsed, another election was called giving Netanyahu a chance at a comeback. He succeeded, winning 32 seats to lead the coalition in the next government. The centrist Yesh Atid party, who led the last governing coalition, came in second with 24 seats.
During his previous 12 years of rule, Netanyahu structured himself as an “American-style” politician who focused on liberalizing the Israeli economy as well as positioning himself as a proponent of stronger national security by overseeing three wars between Hamas in the Gaza strip. From an American perspective, his previous tenure saw an erosion of the typical bipartisan support Israel received as he butted heads with former president Barack Obama over the Iran Nuclear Deal. During that period, Republicans in the House of Representatives invited Netanyahu to speak at the Capitol without permission from Obama, accenting an increasing partisan divide that continues today.
Running on his past economic and security successes seems to have reached the ears of many Israeli voters who were looking for stability following another collapsed governing coalition.
The soon-to-be governing coalition has already come under fire for its extremist views on Arab Muslims and members of the LGBTQ community. Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power Party and member of the upcoming coalition, was recently criticized for attending the memorial of extremist Rabbi, Meir Kahane, who called for a ban on intermarriage between Jews and Muslims in Israel. He was assassinated in New York City in 1990 after he was banned from the Knesset.
Ben Gvir has been convicted of inciting racism as well as supporting a terror organization. Before running for the Knesset, he displayed a picture of Baruch Goldstein who massacred 29 Muslims in 1994 in his house.
Critics have also described the coalition’s agenda as anti-democratic. The parties have listed in their agenda bills that would weaken the independence of the judiciary. Moreover, they also desire to give the Knesset power to override court decisions that they disagree with. Relevant to Netanyahu, all parties have also desired to alter the criminal code so that charges against the prime minister can be dropped.
The three parties will likely take weeks of negotiating to formally establish a new government, but the next months will determine how far the new Israeli government will go with their new agenda and policies.
