In an Aug. 7 article, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed himself to only forming a right-wing government after the Sept. 17 elections, declaring that he would not consider a national unity government. “This is my commitment to Likud voters,” he wrote in Israel Today, the pro-Netanyahu freebie. The column represents Netanyahu's attempt to derail the unity government train headed his way, driven at full speed by Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman.
Despite various plans and machinations by Netanyahu, Liberman’s engine is not running out of steam. In fact, the opposite is happening: The train being pulled by the engine is gaining speed, forming an existential threat to Netanyahu’s government. There is, however, one caveat: This scenario is based on the assumption that Liberman and Netanyahu are not secretly in cahoots to make a mockery of Israel’s entire political system.
