The following article is extracted from the
July-August 1997
issue of
THE OTHER ISRAEL
Scandals and crises
Ever since the bulldozers started at Har Homa, apprehension of war had not
been far away. Predictions and scenarios of the approaching conflict appeared
practically daily -- written by respected commentators, by opposition
politicians or even members of Netanyahu's own coalition, in confidential
reports of the army command and the security agencies which, to Netanyahu's
chagrin, kept finding their way into the press.
Yet paradoxically, this ever-present threat is far from being always at the
forefront. For weeks on end, sometimes for months, it is obscured and relegated
to the backpages, with the headlines focusing on more mundane issues -- and in
particular, on the Netanyahu Government's innumerable scandals and crises, with
the Prime Minister seen as a juggler and acrobat, struggling with an unwieldy
coalition of eight separate political parties themselves containing innumerable
bickering factions, and jumping (so far successfully) over one pitfall after
another; "stopping fire by lighting another fire" was how one commentator put
it.
For months on end, the country (and the whole world) watched Netanyahu
grapple with the accusation of having engineered the appointment of a
hand-picked Attorney-General, with the deliberate intention of carrying out a
miscarriage of justice -- namely, the acquittal of Aryeh Der'i, leader of the
Religious-Oriental Shas party, who is a vital coalition partner of Netanyahu and
who faces a serious corruption trial.
The police interrogated Netanyahu -- the first time such a thing happened to
an Israeli Prime Minister -- and recommended that he be put on trial. But the
public prosecution, though severely criticising Netanyahu's conduct, decided
that "there was not sufficient evidence" to bring charges against the Prime
Minister -- and its decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.
In the immediate wake of this affair, Netanyahu precipitated a government
crisis by sacking his Finance Minister, Dan Meridor -- a long-standing rival
who, unlike Netanyahu, enjoys a reputation for honesty and integrity and who,
also unlike Netanyahu, had the confidence of the business community. The deposed
Meridor set up "an opposition faction within the coalition" which absented
itself from a parliamentary confidence vote -- shaking the government but not
bringing it down.
To the vacant Finance Ministry, Netanyahu intended to appoint none other than
Ariel Sharon of Lebanon War notoriety -- who was also going to get a place in
the innermost cabinet. This precipitated a new crisis: Defence Minister
Mordechai and Foreign Minister Levy, the leading cabinet moderates, firmly
opposed the elevation of hardline Sharon -- who, in the Finance Ministry, would
have been in a position to funnel practically unlimited funds to his settler
friends.
In an effort to change his hawkish image, Sharon held a highly-publicised
meeting with Mahmud Abbas, Arafat's deputy. (It was not enough for the purpose,
especially since at the meeting Sharon took an intransigent line and tried to
"explain" to his interlocutor why Israel "must" keep most of the West Bank.) In
the end, Netanyahu caved in to Levy's threat to resign and bring down the
government, and Sharon's way up was blocked; in turn, Netanyahu had to face the
enraged spurned Sharon, who reportedly bides his time for a revenge.
And in the midst of struggling with his own ministers, Netanyahu had to
contend with the religious parties' demand to enact a law giving Orthodox rabbis
a monopoly over conversions to Judaism in Israel. Failure to enact the law might
anger Netanyahu's Orthodox coalition partners and lose him his majority in the
Knesset -- yet its passage would mean a break with the Conservative and Reform
Jews who are the great majority of U.S. Jewry, which could among other things
lose Netanyahu the support of the U.S. Congress...
For the time being Netanyahu got out this crisis, too -- or at least bought
time by the appointment of a committee which is supposed to find a compromise.
As yet, Netanyahu's ability to get out of trouble seems to match his patent
inability to avoid falling into it in the first place. He seems to enjoy the in
some senses enviable position of heading a government which is too weak to take
any meaningful step forward, yet too strong to be toppled.
The Editors
THE OTHER ISRAEL
is the newsletter of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace
P.O.Box 2542
58125 Holon
Israel.
Phone/Fax: (03) 5565804
Editor: Adam Keller
Coeditor: Beate Zilversmidt
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