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Unity government a recipe for diplomatic disaster

Zionist Camp co-chair Isaac Herzog has refused to reject joining a unity government with the Likud, although the leftist parties in such governments typically end up serving as "defense attorney" for right-wing policies.
A pedestrian walks under a Labour party campaign billboard depicting party leader and Defence Minister Ehud Barak (C), Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv February 8, 2009. Surveys predict a narrow win in Tuesday's vote for hawkish ex-premier Netanyahu, his comeback fuelled by the inconclusive wars in southern Lebanon and Gaza, formerly areas under Israel's control and now bastions of hostile Islamists. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL) - RTXB
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Despite the sharp criticism he directed at the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress on March 3, Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Zionist Camp, has rebuffed all attempts to extract a commitment from him not to join a Likud-led government. Herzog keeps reiterating that he will be the one forming the next government, but in talks with Al-Monitor over the weekend, members of the Zionist Camp's campaign headquarters, speaking on condition of anonymity, conceded that there is virtually no chance that a majority 61 members of the 20th Knesset will recommend to the president that Herzog form the next government.

Let's say, however, that at the last minute, Herzog declares from every rooftop that he prefers the opposition benches to the leather-upholstered arm chairs around the Cabinet table. What will that mean in terms of the day after the March 17 election? If the past is any indicator, very little.

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