Israel's deadline after the deadline

The deadline to end Israel’s never-ending political drama had been set for April 13, at the stroke of midnight, by which time Blue and White leader Benny Gantz would have conceded defeat or announced success in assembling a new government. In Israel, however, after one deadline comes another deadline. At the end of every dead end there's an escape route. At every crossroads lurks a path unknown by any GPS system. By comparison, the drama surrounding the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem makes the “House of Cards” look like “Little House on the Prairie.”

In the early morning hours of April 14, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin agreed to extend Gantz’s mandate to assemble a government, but only for 48 hours. Usually, if a Knesset member tasked with assembling a government asks for time beyond the designated 28 days, the president should grant an additional 14 days. Given the low degree of trust in the political abilities of Gantz and in the political credibility of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, the president granted only two days.

If Gantz and Netanyahu don't have a deal on a unity government by midnight April 15, the mandate will go to the Knesset for another 21 days of zigzagging, libels, intrigue and conspiracies. Should no one succeed in that challenge, Israel will hold a fourth round of elections somewhere between the end of July and the end of August 2020. This is a scenario that no one on earth could have predicted a year and a half ago.

It took more than a year, but Netanyahu has finally succeeded in dismantling the rare alternative to his regime — the Blue and White, led by three former military chiefs of staff (Gantz, Moshe Ya’alon and Gabi Ashkenazi) and a former finance minister (Yair Lapid). He did it the way he prefers — with extraordinary political precision, aggressiveness and deception.