Some things are not built to last, like Netanyahu's coalition

Published date27 January 2023
The months since the November 1 election have shown that the seemingly homogeneous 64-MK-strong coalition may not end up being as stable as people initially thought

The drawn-out negotiation process of the coalition agreements drew criticism and spoke to the depth of distrust over whether the agreements would indeed be respected.

Disagreements in the coalition

Indeed, it is already clear that many parts of the agreements will not be respected.

One example is that Religious Zionist Party chairman and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, has yet to receive control over civilian issues regarding Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant brazenly said this week that he had "not been privy to the coalition negotiations" and therefore is not keen on giving Smotrich any power over the IDF's units in the West Bank that deal with civilians. "The army must have one commander only," Gallant reportedly said in a fiery late-night meeting this week with Netanyahu and Smotrich. Netanyahu himself is now involved in finding a solution.

Onward to religion and state. Within a month, at least four controversies arose. In some, Netanyahu needed to get involved publicly in order to put out the fires and essentially promise that he would violate the coalition agreements on these matters.

The first was RZP's law to enable businesses and service providers to refuse to provide service due to "religious belief" – including a doctor refusing to give treatment to an LGBT person. Netanyahu, first in a written statement and then in a video, promised that everyone would be treated equally – in other words, that the clause would not be respected.

Next came United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf's demand that Transportation Minister Miri Regev order a halt to construction and upkeep work on Israel's railways on Shabbat. A somewhat unclear compromise was reportedly reached that the status quo would continue – work that is lifesaving is permissible on Shabbat and will continue, and the ministry will attempt to reduce other work as much as possible, without it coming at the expense of train travelers during the week.

Third was Culture and Sport Minister Mickey Zohar's flip-flop this week. Zohar declared that his ministry would cease funding the previous minister's "Israeli Sabbath" initiative, which enabled free entrance to a large number of cultural institutions on Shabbat. Netanyahu, in a dry statement...

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