What Bibi-Liberman alliance means for Israel’s opposition
With opposition chair Isaac Herzog failing to join the coalition, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, also in the opposition, is getting stronger.
On May 20, soon after recently resigned Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon announced that he isn't quitting politics, and that he would run in the future for a top spot in the country’s leadership, the new chairman of the coalition, Knesset member David Bitan of the Likud, was quick to provide his own interpretation of this statement. He determined that Ya’alon would assume the No. 2 slot in Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party.
It is doubtful that Bitan based his remarks on any real information he might have. It is far more reasonable to assume that this was simply an assessment that fit in neatly with all the dizzying events that reshuffled the Israeli political deck and allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open the Knesset’s summer session on May 23, with a stable coalition of 66 members.
Now that he has resigned from the government and Knesset, it looks like Ya’alon is about to leave the Likud Party as well. In other words, Bitan’s scenario is not at all unfounded. Assuming that the former defense minister intends to keep his promise and remain a central figure in Israeli politics, Yesh Atid — the second-largest party in the current polls — is a perfect fit for him. He will just have to put his ego aside, when the time comes, because Lapid as the chairman of that party has no plans to give up his position to anyone.
After the recent political shakeup — with Netanyahu offering the defense portfolio to Yisrael Beitenu chair Avigdor Liberman — Yesh Atid comes out the big winner in just about every way. Lapid has established himself as the only real alternative to the Netanyahu government, at least at this stage. With the polls giving him an average of 20 seats, the former finance minister is already at an excellent starting point for the next election. All that he is missing is a right-leaning security expert among the party’s top leadership, so that he can break through the barriers imposed on him as someone identified with the center-left and win over voters also from the Likud.
