The New Israeli Government post that I promised, a mere two weeks late
A week and a bit ago I mentioned that my mental queue included a post about the new Israeli government. For those who aren't aware, to be prime minister a politician needs support from the majority of the members of the Knesset (parliament). Since Israel isn't a two-party system, this means that ze needs to form a coalition between various parties, generally granting cabinet positions or promising to enact certain policies in order to get a party on board the coalition. As of a couple of weeks ago, Netanyahu has a coalition and so he's now the new prime minister.
There are a lot of things to dislike about his coalition, and, in fact, the majority of Israelis say that they're dissatisfied with it. First of all, in order to bribe enough parties to join, he's created what I understand is the biggest cabinet in Israeli history. Despite being bloated with a number of cabinet departments that seem like they would more appropriately be sub-departments, however, Netanyahu chose not to create a full-fledged cabinet department of health (because who needs to give social services a fighting chance of getting funding?!). Another reason to dislike his coalition is that, while it's par for the course in Israeli politics that he got support from Shas by promising taxpayer dollars preferentially to the ultra-orthodox, it's still problematic. Labor, historically the center-left party, has joined the coalition (with Likud, Netanyahu's party which historically has been Israel's center-right party), which begs the question of what's to become of the Israeli left.
The bit that's been getting the most press, however, is that in order to get Israel Beitanu on board the coalition, Netanyahu agreed to give the party (which means Avigdor Lieberman) the foreign ministership. Most of the press I've seen has focused on Lieberman's racism as a reason that's a Bad Idea. [PeachyKeenGrrl] pointed out another reason: Lieberman serves as a straw man for the government; almost no matter what Netanyahu does, he can argue that at least he's not doing what Lieberman wants. Personally, however, I have a fair amount of faith that the current government can't screw the conflict with the Palestinians up much worse than those of the last decade plus have done. I am, however, seriously concerned that Lieberman seems to be trying to use his success in the elections to effectively prevent the rule of law from applying to him. To be more specific, Lieberman has said that if he's charged with the money laundering for which he's being investigated and therefore his party loses the foreign ministership, it will withdrawal from the coalition government. In other words, if the prime minister's government holds him accountable for any crimes he may have committed, it will fall. All I can say is to request that the next time I complain about the two-party system in the U.S., someone reminds me of this post.
There are a lot of things to dislike about his coalition, and, in fact, the majority of Israelis say that they're dissatisfied with it. First of all, in order to bribe enough parties to join, he's created what I understand is the biggest cabinet in Israeli history. Despite being bloated with a number of cabinet departments that seem like they would more appropriately be sub-departments, however, Netanyahu chose not to create a full-fledged cabinet department of health (because who needs to give social services a fighting chance of getting funding?!). Another reason to dislike his coalition is that, while it's par for the course in Israeli politics that he got support from Shas by promising taxpayer dollars preferentially to the ultra-orthodox, it's still problematic. Labor, historically the center-left party, has joined the coalition (with Likud, Netanyahu's party which historically has been Israel's center-right party), which begs the question of what's to become of the Israeli left.
The bit that's been getting the most press, however, is that in order to get Israel Beitanu on board the coalition, Netanyahu agreed to give the party (which means Avigdor Lieberman) the foreign ministership. Most of the press I've seen has focused on Lieberman's racism as a reason that's a Bad Idea. [PeachyKeenGrrl] pointed out another reason: Lieberman serves as a straw man for the government; almost no matter what Netanyahu does, he can argue that at least he's not doing what Lieberman wants. Personally, however, I have a fair amount of faith that the current government can't screw the conflict with the Palestinians up much worse than those of the last decade plus have done. I am, however, seriously concerned that Lieberman seems to be trying to use his success in the elections to effectively prevent the rule of law from applying to him. To be more specific, Lieberman has said that if he's charged with the money laundering for which he's being investigated and therefore his party loses the foreign ministership, it will withdrawal from the coalition government. In other words, if the prime minister's government holds him accountable for any crimes he may have committed, it will fall. All I can say is to request that the next time I complain about the two-party system in the U.S., someone reminds me of this post.