By, Anshel Pfeffer
2 min read
ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer
The ink on the new coalition agreement appointing Avigdor Lieberman as defence minister and bringing his party into government had barely dried last week when a new row began brewing.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home Party, launched a series of attacks on the new diplomatic initiative being talked up by the Prime Minister and Mr Lieberman.
In a speech at a Jerusalem Day event on Sunday marking the 49th anniversary of the Six-Day War, Mr Bennett did not mention the Prime Minister by name, but it was clear to whom he was referring when he said "there are those who at home and abroad are joining various Arab initiatives, according to which we will divide the land, divide Jerusalem and go back to the 1967 borders, because the world is pressuring us".
In another barely-veiled reference to Mr Netanyahu, who appeared at the same event, he said: "You can't be for the land of Israel in Hebrew while founding the state of Palestine in English".
Likud sources in response attacked "Bennett's campaign of hypocrisy", pointing out that the Education Minister had already sat in a government with the Labour Party and Tzipi Livni, who was negotiating with the Palestinian Authority. The sources accused Mr Bennett of "threatening a wide right-wing government" just because he was jealous of his rival Mr Lieberman for being appointed defence minister.
Only two weeks ago, following the deal between Likud and Mr Lieberman, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog said that the "door has closed" on a coalition agreement between the Prime Minister and his party. However, the increased tension with Mr Bennett may open the door again and, on Saturday, Mr Herzog said that things may be different "if Netanyahu parts with the far-right".
Replacing Jewish Home with the Zionist Union would serve a number of objectives for the Prime Minister. Assuming that all the new party's MKs join up, it would create a much larger coalition base. A party with only eight members would leave and 24 new MKs would arrive in their place.
With Mr Lieberman's party, Yisrael Beiteinu, in the coalition, Mr Netanyahu would still have a right-wing party balancing the centre-left Zionist Union.
Such a move, which would install Mr Herzog as the new foreign minister, would also allow Mr Netanyahu to present a much more moderate government to the international community. Mr Netanyahu would also be rid of his young rival for the leadership of the right-wing camp.
Meanwhile, figures close to both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Herzog have confirmed that a coalition deal between the two party leaders already exists in draft form and they are just waiting for the "proper political conditions" to exist before they sign it.
The main obstacle is the Zionist Union's Knesset faction, where most MKs have publicly stated that they are against joining the Netanyahu government.
Mr Herzog's most vocal rival within the party, former leader Shelly Yachimovich, said in a radio interview on Sunday: "If Bennett leaves the Netanyahu government then the government falls. Can we, as the largest opposition party, come and save Netanyahu?"
