Unity Talks Break Down: Netanyahu Is Chosen First

Tweet

Please Donate To OneIsrael

Our annual fund-raising campaign is underway, and we would deeply appreciate your support!

Hilarious Quote of the Morning

“Kahol Levan (Blue and White) asked us for only 10 MKs and not 13, so Gantz would come to the President with fewer mandates from Netanyahu, and thus the Netanyahu would receive the first mandate.”

Ayman Odeh, Chairman of the Joint Arab List 

This statement could not be more absurd. The reason that all 13 members of the Joint Arab List did not recommend Gantz was because three of them belong to the Balad Party which issued a statement saying that it would not support Gantz for prime minister because he is a “terrorist murderer.”

The News on the Israeli Street

Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria in the last 24 hours . . .

It was a typical day:

*A Palestinian terrorist stabbed two Israelis at the Shilat Junction. A 22-year-old woman was stabbed in the shoulder and is in serious condition. A Border Policeman who ran down the terrorist and captured him was also stabbed. He is listed in good condition this morning.

*Palestinian terrorists attacked Israelis with “rocks” and Molotovs at numerous places. This is the photo of a car that was struck on Road 465:

Note how the terrorists always aim for the head of the driver. Fortunately, the woman driving this car was only lightly wounded (photo hakolhayehudi).

*150 Palestinian rioters attacked our IDF soldiers and Border police at Schweich overnight.

The situation in Egypt . . .

More than 1,100 protesters have now been arrested in the government crackdown. Egyptian security forces say that the protests against President Sisi are organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkish intelligence, Islamic Jihad, and ISIS.

A new weapon for our soldiers . . .

The 40 mm MK 47 GD grenade machine gun.

Known affectionately by its users as “thunder”, this gun which comes with a laser rangefinder will now be embedded in all IDF field units beginning with those on the Lebanese and Syrian borders facing Hezbollah and Iranian proxies.

It has been used extensively by U.S. Special Forces around the world.

According to General Dynamics that produces the gun, it can fire 60 grenades per minute and provides “devastating firepower against soft and lightly armored targets.” You can watch a short video produced by General Dynamics here.

TODAY’S BLOG

Unity Talks Break Down: Netanyahu Is Chosen First

President Rivlin surprised everyone yesterday with the rapidity with which he chose PM Netanyahu to try to form a new government. It had been expected that he would not make this decision until after Rosh Hashana.

However, it quickly became obvious that Kahol Levan (Benny Gantz) would not negotiate with Likud as long as Likud insisted on representing the “right block.” In other words, Kahol Levan will not talk unless Netanyahu throws the ultra-orthodox and Yamina under the bus.

Just think about this for a moment.

Kahol Levan is perfectly willing to accept the recommendation of and join forces with the rabidly anti-Zionist (and orthodox) Joint Arab List, but cannot countenance the idea of negotiating with orthodox Jews and Jews on the “right.” 

Also, it became apparent that Kahol Levan would not negotiate with Likud as long as it supports a possibly “indicted Netanyahu” remaining prime minister. Rivlin even proposed a sort of dual-prime ministership that would allow Gantz to take over if Netanyahu is indicted.

Gantz and Kahol Levan refused.

So where do we go from here?

It’s not our first rodeo; we all know by now that Netanyahu has 28 days to form a government, followed by a 14 day extension if he asks for it. However, we all also know that he has no chance of forming a 61-seat coalition unless Avigdor Lieberman has some sort of Damascus Road epiphany that will allow him to sit with Shas and United Torah Judaism.

So here are a few possible and not so possible scenarios:

Scenario 1: Netanyahu returns to Rivlin today or tomorrow and tells him he is unable to form a government. Rivlin then asks Gantz to try and do so. In all likelihood, Gantz will fail to do so after 28 days, and a new election will be called for January or February.

Scenario 2: Netanyahu returns to Rivlin today or tomorrow and tells him he is unable to form a government. Rivlin then goes to the new Knesset and declares that no one is able to form a government. A new election is called for January or February.

Scenario 3: Netanyahu throws the ultra-orthodox and Yamina under the bus and forms a unity government with Kahol Levan.

Scenario 4: Kahol Levan divides itself into the Gantz faction and Lapid faction, and the Lapid faction is separated from the Party. The ultra orthodox then decide to join Kahol Levan (there is a consuming hatred between Lapid and the ultra orthodox). A new unity government is formed.

Scenario 5: Some person, as yet unfound, thinks out of the box and comes up with a way to ameliorate all the warring factions, and a unity government is formed.

At the moment, it appears that we are heading for another election, but as all readers of OneIsrael know, anything can happen at any moment in Israeli politics.