Joining 70-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu in a coalition government, 60-uyear-old former Defense Chief Benny Gantz joined Israel’s longest serving prime minister rather than continue the stalemate. Neither Netanyahu nor Gantz could form a government requiring at least 61 seats in the Jerusalem-based Israeli Knesset. With coronavirus straining Israel’s national health system, Gantz decided to end his bid to unseat Bibi as Prime Minister. For two years Gantz assembled the Blue and White Party to help defeat Netanyahu’s Likud Pary, holding only 31 seats in the Knesset or Issrael’s parliament. While Gantz’s Blue and White Party held 33 seats, neither Likud nor Blue and White could get to the 61 seats needed to from a government. Gantz smartly accepted the offer to head the Knesset, entering into a power-sharing arrangement with Netanyahu.
Netanyahu stays as Prime Minister for 18 months, unless an Israeli court convicts him of corruption sometime this year. Whether Bibi’s tossed from office is anyone’s guess. What’s known for sure is that Gantz becomes Prime Minister after 18 months or sooner, if an Israeli court finds Bibi guilty of corruption. Elected Parliamentary Speaker March 26, Gantz becomes an accepted voice within the Likud bloc, happy to see him join forces with Netanyahu. Gantz antagonized some of his Blue and White loyalits who hoped he could unseat Netanyahu and take over as Prime Minister. But with the SARS CoV-2 outbreak releasing the latest plague on the Jewish people since biblical times, Gantz thought it was his biblical duty to join forces with Netanyahu. With over 3,035 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths, Gantz couldn’t see battling Netanyahu with an uncertain outcome was good for Israel.
Joining Netanyahu, Gantz is certain, one way or another, to become Israel’s next Prime Minister in 18 months. Gantz admitted that the growing coronavirus epidemic influenced his thinking to joint Netanyahu in a coalition government. Joining Netanyahu fractured Gantz’s Blue and White Party forcing Gantz to pivot to become Netanyahu’s successor in the Likud Party. “It makes me feel terrible. It’s exactly what I did not want to happen, to see Gantz actually partner with Netanyahu,” said Tami Golan, 46, who backed Gantz in three prior elections. Unlike Netanyahu, Gantz shows a more humble side, apologizing to his constituents for doing the unthinkable: Jointing Bibi in a coalition government with Likud. “I understand the coronavirus makes for a skeptical situation, but I can’t help but feel disappointed—we might not be done with Netanyahu,” Golan said with regret.
Israeli politics have become hard scrabble for various left and right wing parties, maneuvering around the growing influence of the pro-Arab Joint List Party, comprised of Islamists, Palestinians and Communists, all of whom would like to bring down the Israeli government or, at the very least, see Israel become a non-Jewish state. Even Gantz, who worked day-and-night to defeat Netanyahu for two years, doesn’t want to see anti-Israel, pro-Arab parties gain even more clout in the Knesset. “[We] will make every effort to establish a national emergency government. We will take care of the health crisis. We will lift the country out of economic trauma,” Gantz wrote on his Facebook page, letting his followers know that he works first for the state of Israel, not himself. “A leader does not betray his principles and his electorate . . I will no sit one day under the corrupt [premier],” Gadeer Mreeh wrote on Twitter.
Before the March 2 election, Gantz pledged he would not work with Netanyahu. Necessity makes strange bedfellows, bringing Gantz and Netanyahu into a governing coalition for the good of the country. Gantz used Netanyahu’s looming corruption trials to rule out any coalition but, in the end, it was his surest path to Prime Minster. If an Israeli court convicts Bibi, Gantz becomes Prime Minister immediately. If he inherits the post in 18 months, Gantz will command the governing coalition needed with Likud to continue leading Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump called Bibi to congratulate him “on the fact that he would form a government under his premiership.” Trump has a strong kinship with Netanyahu, both share common goals of defeating radical Islamic terrorism. However you cut it, Netanyahu may outlast Trump if he doesn’t survive a bruising reelection campaign.
Joining Netanyahu in a coalition government was a smart move by Gantz, maybe the shortest distance to Prime Minister. It’s unlike Bibi will be convicted of corruption for what amounts to bad decisions with no evil intent toward the Israeli government. Gantz figures in a national unity government he’d get his turn as prime minister in 18 months, not too long to wait to advance his career. Whether he admits it or not, Gantz has a lot to learn from Bibi who’s been serving as Israeli Prime Minister since March 31, 2009. Bibi also served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999, eventually handing the reins to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001. Netanyahu has nothing left to prove other than he’s the ultimate political survivor. Serving as Bibi’s understudy, Gantz will be well-prepared to take the reins in 18 months when Netanyahu finally finishes his last term as Prime Minister.
