When the bloc rose up against its creator: Netanyahu has no choice but to accept all the demands of his partners - voila! news

On video: Smotritz upon entering the meeting with Netanyahu in the Knesset (Yaki Adamker)

We open with a spoiler: the agony of the coalition negotiations that are prolonging Benjamin Netanyahu's path back to power do not really threaten the formation of his sixth government, not even for a moment.

The cohesive and loyal bloc that he built over five election campaigns to survive the indictments and followed him for a year and a half in the opposition wilderness, did not come this far, with 64 mandates, to give up a "full-on" right-wing government because of ego battles and jobbers.

Therefore, most likely all the crises, demands and conditions will be resolved, even if, to Netanyahu's dismay, it will take until the last minute.

In the end, the block will capture its fortress.

However, the growing pains on the way to forming the government reflect the real power relations between the bloc and its architect: Netanyahu depends on his partners as much, if not more, than they depend on him;

For them it is a political game, about power, budgets and maybe a bit of ideology, but he is also accused in the criminal court, with the only coalition that will allow him to try to stop the trial and evade justice.

Therefore, it is not really a negotiation between equals: here there is one side that is ready to give everything and on the other side partners who just want to take advantage of the situation to their advantage and get their reward for their loyalty all along.

Build a cohesive block.

Netanyahu (Photo: Reuven Castro)

In normal negotiations, in an alternative world where Netanyahu is without indictments, he could have waved off Bezalel Smotrich and turned to one of the opposition parties with a parallel proposal, at least as it were, to remove him from the treasury portfolio.

In this alternative world, Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir might not have come to sit around the negotiating table in the first place, and Netanyahu, as usual, would have preferred to line himself up on the left with a moderate center party instead of seating them in the political and security cabinet. In reality, in which Netanyahu tied his fate to the right The extremist has forced them into an integral part of the block with the dedicated and loyal ultra-Orthodox, they are the only partners he has, and all of them are now taking full advantage of this status.

After the great victory in the elections, Netanyahu wanted the bloc to establish a quick check-check government, based on a thin document of understanding and a quick division of portfolios.

But his partners, led by Smotrich, restrained him and forced him to go into the details.

The paper tolerates everything, as evidenced by a long list of clauses in coalition agreements that have never been implemented or realized over the years, as well as Netanyahu's unfulfilled promises to his partners and voters.

But the negotiation divides the power, determines the boundaries of the sector and establishes in writing the agenda of the future government.

Netanyahu's bloc demanded its share and forced him to give as many commitments in writing as possible in advance.

More in Walla!

An agreement was signed between the Likud and Otzma Yehudit: Ben Gabir will be the "Minister of National Security"

To the full article

Delayed the talks for two weeks.

Smotrich (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The bloc also demanded the finance portfolio, which Netanyahu initially planned to keep close to him and appoint a minister from the Likud.

He did offer first priority to Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, but mainly in an attempt to curb Smotrich's demands for a senior portfolio and push him into a medium portfolio such as justice or education.

His attempts to remove the religious Zionist from the tree failed, and ended in a precedential and strange rotation arrangement in the Ministry of Finance in which the term will be divided between Smotrich and Deri, who represent two opposite economic approaches that will alternate within two years.

There has never been a rotation in the Ministry of Finance, just as there has never been an alternate prime minister, the political invention that established Netanyahu's previous government with Gantz in 2020 and was also inherited by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

Both are signed by the same maker.

Under the auspices of Smotrich's fight over the Ministry of Finance, which delayed the talks for two weeks, Netanyahu's bloc rose up against its creator.

All partners only refined positions and added requirements;

Budgets for the abrakhs and yeshiva, a clause of escalation and legal reforms, regulation of the illegal outposts, changes in the Law of Return and increased enforcement of the laws of the Sabbath.

Ben Gvir, the designated Minister of Internal Security, wants to significantly increase his powers over the police, receive large budgets, transfer responsibility for enforcement bodies from other government ministries to him - and bring in the Shin Bet to deal with crime in the Arab cities.

"Netanyahu's block has stood up to its creator."

Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gabir (Photo: Reuven Castro)

we will continue;

Smotrich demands that the civil administration be dismantled in the territories and that the Ministry of Finance receive the civil powers over the Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria, a problematic and complex move from a security, legal and international point of view.

Deri demands to enact, even before the formation of the government, a personal law that will allow him to serve as a minister despite being convicted of tax offenses last year, and Torah Judaism wants a law that will give the deputy minister the powers of a minister in ministries.

As a general rule, the cumulative budgetary requirements of the entire partnership will require large cuts from other sources in the state coffers.

"Since there is no alternative, we give almost everything and get nothing," MK David Bitan accurately diagnosed this week in a round of media interviews in which he criticized the conduct of the negotiations. The Likudniks will pay the price of the block when they are forced to divide the remaining medium-sized portfolios that Netanyahu will be left with after the deal with the partnership As long as Netanyahu calculates his legal path, he has no choice but to accept the bloc's full demands, at least on paper, in order to form a government and return to power. He can always postpone the implementation phase, or alternatively the revenge or improvements, for a few more months.

• news

• opinions and interpretations

Tags

• Benjamin Netanyahu

• Bezalel Smotrich

• Itamar Ben Gabir

• Likud

• Jewish power