By Denis Korkodinov
Israelis are facing an internal political crisis. For the first time in history, repeated elections to the national parliament (Knesset) will take place in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and political opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman cannot agree among themselves because of their attitude to the rights of orthodox Jews.
After the parliamentary elections, Benjamin Netanyahu hoped to form a coalition in which representatives of ultra-right political forces would play a dominant role. However, the former Israeli defense minister, who now heads the national opposition, Avigdor Lieberman refused to accept the proposal of his former “boss,” which led the country to a standstill, as there is still no parliament in Tel Aviv.
Under these conditions, the current prime minister risks losing his position, because if it is impossible to form the coalition as soon as possible, Israeli President Reuven Rivli will be forced to announce his resignation. However, Benjamin Netanyahu is trying by all means to postpone the finals of his career, by calling a repeat parliamentary election to be held on September 17, 2019.
It is worth noting that the political party Netanyahu “Likud” during the last election campaign, which ended April 9, 2019, received 35 mandates in the Knesset. Nevertheless, this number of parliamentarians is extremely insufficient for the formation of an absolute majority (61 mandates). Avigdor Lieberman and his Israel Beytenu party reject any proposals for cooperation with the Prime Minister because, firstly, she does not agree with his domestic policy aimed at lobbying the interests of ultra-nationalist groups, and, secondly, the former head Tel Aviv’s defense ministry expects to take the post of de facto Israeli leader, which is currently Benjamin Netanyahu.
Against this backdrop, a real information war has begun against Avigdor Lieberman. The official Israeli press accuses him of betraying national interests, corruption and secret conspiracy to replace the current government. In addition, even the Prime Minister of Israel, whose fate is now entirely dependent on the actions of the opposition, came down with harsh criticism and address of the former Minister of Defense, accusing him of the waste of the state budget.
The conflict began after Avigdor Lieberman put forward a legislative initiative to deprive the ultra-Orthodox Israeli male citizens of the privilege of refusing to perform military service. In turn, Benjamin Netanyahu, who counts on the opinion of the ardent followers of the idea of “Great Israel”, insists that the exclusive rights of ultra-Orthodox (haredim) remain unchanged.
Such a decision by the Israeli Prime Minister is explained not only by a long-standing tradition, according to which Haredi cannot be drafted into the army for religious reasons that forbid them to bear arms, but also by the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu really needs the support of the extreme nationalist forces inside Israel.
Without the support of the ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv, it is very difficult to take part in the anti-Iranian campaign of Donald Trump, while supporters of Avigdor Lieberman oppose Israel’s interference in the internal affairs of Tehran. Under these conditions, there is a high probability that in September 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu, who will not be able to find a compromise in the internal opposition, will resign as Prime Minister of Israel.
Attention is drawn to the fact that Avigdor Lieberman is a follower of the secular path of development of the Israeli state. Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu relies on radical Jewish groups. In addition, as a rule, the target audience of the former head of the defense department of official Tel Aviv is repatriates of the former Soviet Union. This further intensifies his conflict with the current prime minister of the country, who relies primarily on local nationalists who are very negatively disposed towards the Soviet legacy and, in fact, Russia.
If, as a result of repeated elections, Lieberman’s party wins, this will mark the beginning of a complete transformation of Israel, which will take on an exclusively secular shape. In turn, representatives of ultra-orthodox parties are unlikely to calmly watch how they are rapidly losing power in Tel Aviv. All this may lead to an escalation of the conflict, which is likely to be accompanied by civilian casualties. It is possible that in order to create an advantage, one of the parties to this conflict will be able to conclude a situational alliance with the Palestinian Authority in the hope that the next intifada will create a pretext for accusing political rivals of inability to resolve the crisis.
In any case, domestic political battles between Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel are likely to cause a wave of social unrest between ultra-Orthodox and supporters of the secular path of development with the participation of international forces.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).
Image Credit: Avigdor Lieberman Twitter Account