The formation of Blue and White brought together strange bedfellows, from the left and the right, whose shared goal was to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to stop his Trump-like war against Israel's Gatekeepers, including Supreme Court justices, the attorney general and the police commissioner as well as others. The alliance was a success story. It wasn't strong enough to elevate its leader, Benny Gantz, to prime minister, but it proved sufficiently strong to block Netanyahu's attempts to form a new government after elections last April. Netanyahu subsequently dragged Israel into two more election campaigns, but they didn't change the political landscape.
In recent weeks, Gantz has faced a multitude of issues. He knew that Netanyahu’s caretaker government would remain in place as long as no new government was formed. He realized that a narrow government led by Blue and White and supported (from the outside) by the Arab Joint List would be impossible, because three members of his own bloc reject such support. Gantz therefore took the bold decision to break his major campaign promises and agreed to serve in a unity government under Netanyahu, who in a few weeks will appear in court to face serious criminal charges.
Gantz’s very unexpected decision led not only to splitting his young party, but also to complying with Likud demands to change Israel's Basic Laws as a matter of political convenience and expediency. Recent polling shows that the parties that came together to form Blue and White are now quite weak, while the Likud has grown in strength. That said, it is still too early to ascertain how the situation will develop going forward. At the end of the rotation government, Gantz might very well be considered to have been a popular and successful prime minister. Still, such projections cannot explain or justify changing important national laws.
Britain and Israel are the only democratic countries that do not have constitutions, but the reason for Israel not having one is not the 30 odd years of British mandate rule over Palestine. According to UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947), on partitioning Palestine, the resulting Arab state and the Jewish state were each to form constituent councils to draft democratic constitutions. The resolution also refers, in detail, to the major principles of these future constitutions.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
