Israel’s center-left needs Arab parties more than ever
If Blue and White leader Benny Gantz neglects to reward the Arab sector for its crucial role in bringing down the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, he will find himself back in the opposition.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the 2012 AIPAC conference about the Iranian nuclear threat. Using a famous English adage, he told his audience, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then what is it? That’s right, it's a duck!” Today, that duck is Netanyahu — a lame duck. Now that 99% of the votes are counted, it looks like the Netanyahu era is over.
With just 31 seats for the Likud and 55 for the right-ultra-Orthodox bloc, it is obvious that Netanyahu failed in his efforts to win 61 seats without Liberman, which would have assured him a coalition that could have adopted legislation to protect Netanyahu from indictments. Thus, early this October, his attorneys will have to appear for a pre-indictment hearing before Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit without immunity from prosecution on the horizon. As such, he will do anything he can to keep his position as prime minister. According to Israeli law, a prime minister can serve even while he is indicted, right up until his verdict.
