One would have to be heartless not to grasp the tragic reality that unveiled itself last Tuesday, December 31, 2024, in the Knesset plenum, when votes were held on second and third readings on a bill to tax undistributed profits, thereby increasing the government’s income through taxation.
In order for the government not to lose in the votes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to leave his sickbed at Hadassah-University Medical Center following prostate removal surgery, and MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud) had to leave the shiva mourning period for his late mother, and participate in the voting.
The situation resulted from the fact that five out of Otzma Yehudit’s six MKs announced they would vote against the bill as part of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s protest against the government on the issue of policemen’s salaries.
Another three MKs from Agudat Yisrael stayed away from the voting in connection to the so-called “enlistment law,” as did former defense minister Yoav Gallant (Likud), a few days before resigning from Knesset against the background of being fired from his post as defense minister.
The opposition could have been generous and prevented the grotesque situation by simply agreeing to pair off with Netanyahu and Bismuth. However, after the previous opposition in the 24th Knesset, led by Netanyahu, had refused to enable any of the opposition members to pair off with MK Emilie Moatti (Labor) in a vote important to the Government of Change, which had led to Moatti being brought to the vote on a stretcher – nobody expected the current opposition to Netanyahu’s government to demonstrate magnanimity.
The sight in the plenum was truly painful. Netanyahu looked pale and disheveled and was clearly suffering. The fact that his wife, Sara (“the support of my life,” as he recently referred to her), has been away in Miami for over a month, visiting their son Yair, and avoided rejoining her husband at his sickbed with an unconvincing excuse, increased the empathy one felt for Netanyahu, at least momentarily.
Bismuth, who on normal days is a cocky and not pleasant person, looked distraught and deserving of compassion.
At the same time, one could not help blurting out at Netanyahu: “You brought it upon yourself.”
Ben-Gvir as an obstacle
BEN-GVIR’S CONDUCT was predictable, though he decided on Friday night to apologize to Netanyahu and Bismuth for having refused to pair them off in the voting, after realizing that his move had not been viewed favorably by his political base.
Since the government was formed on December 29, 2022, he has regularly provided Netanyahu with reasons to fire him and has earned a reputation as a troublemaker. The main reason Netanyahu has refrained from firing Ben-Gvir is that doing so is liable to lead to the collapse of his coalition.
Even though the decision of MK Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope-United Right) to join the government with his party’s four Knesset seats, becoming foreign minister, and Gallant’s decision to resign from the Knesset and thus enable Netanyahu to replace him with a more reliable MK, provide greater stability to the coalition, Netanyahu is still wary of having to depend on a narrow majority.
However, on several occasions since Israel’s 37th government was formed, Yair Lapid expressed willingness to join the government with his Yesh Atid party’s 24 MKs, on condition that the government’s two most extreme members – Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – be removed. Netanyahu wouldn’t even consider such an option.
In general, Netanyahu is wary of losing any members of his all-Right coalition. For the same reason, he is unwilling to opt for the implementation of the enlistment to the IDF (or alternative service) of the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) as the existing Security Service Law prescribes, even though that is what the current security situation necessitates.
THE SECOND bundle of uncertainties and instabilities concerns the Gaza Strip.
The current reality in the Gaza Strip is that the physical destruction is vast. Certain locations, such as the Jabalya refugee camp, have been more or less razed to the ground, the humanitarian situation is catastrophic, and in many cases, international humanitarian aid is not reaching the civilian population because it is being robbed by Hamas to serve its own interests.
Is all this the result of a decree from heaven?
While Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas as a governing and military force is perfectly justifiable in light of the events of October 7, 2023, the fact is that since that date, there is no official Israeli policy regarding an interim administration to run the affairs of the Gaza Strip, until such time as some alternative non-Hamas Palestinian, Arab, or international regime is established.
De facto, Israel is involved in massive military construction, which suggests it might be considering staying in the Gaza Strip for a lengthy period; in operations designed to empty the northern Gaza Strip of most or all of its Palestinian population; and in not preventing abusive treatment of Gazan civilians by the military forces.
A recent example involves cases of military personnel forbidding civilians moving southward from taking clothing and other basic possessions with them, even though the IDF denies such a policy exists.
Though Netanyahu has stated that Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip is not in the cards, various settlement organizations (such as Nahala, headed by Daniella Weiss) are not being prevented from actively promoting such settlement.
Does the Israeli public know who officially decides the moves in the Gaza Strip these days, besides Netanyahu, on the basis of fleeting whims and American pressure? Does the public know what exactly the policy is? In fact, when some time ago Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara criticized the government’s decision-making process, she was inter alia referring also to this.
Does the public know where the issue of returning the hostages fits into the general policy (whatever it is), in terms of priorities? Is anyone accountable for the results of initiatives taken by local commanders acting on the basis of their own personal agendas, without the backing of their superiors, and occasionally even contrary to standing orders?
Since early elections are not in sight, is it too much to request that efforts be made to improve how our government system works?
The writer worked in the Knesset for many years as a researcher and has published extensively both journalistic and academic articles on current affairs and Israeli politics. Her most recent book, Israel’s Knesset Members: A Comparative Study of an Undefined Job, was published by Routledge.