At the memorial service for Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on Nov. 27, former President Shimon Peres deviated from accepted protocol for such events. In the presence of high-ranking guests and journalists from Israel and abroad, Peres called the nationality bill “an attempt to subjugate the Declaration of Independence to fleeting political needs.” The criticism directly targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had also come to honor the memory of the first prime minister. It was no trivial occurrence for a former president to accuse a current prime minister of making short-term capital out of the founding document of their state’s national movement.
On the face of it, Netanyahu’s motives seem clear: the coalition is unstable, elections are on the horizon, polls indicate that the public is veering to the right and the prime minister is stomping on the gas. He wants to make sure that no one passes him from the right on the way to the ballot box. This is a legitimate interpretation, but only partial and not entirely fair. Allegedly, the move aims to siphon power from Israel's radical right by attracting votes to the moderate right. In fact, Netanyahu is working to distance the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel.