A few months ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu asked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to turn in the keys after Gallant had broken his promise and spoke against the judicial reform while Netanyahu was out of the country. In response, thousands of protesters suddenly discovered they loved Gallant––one of the most hated Likud ministers in the leftist mainstream media––and Netanyahu backed off. It was the first in a string of political miscalculations that made many on the right wonder if the great magician from Rehavia was losing his tricks.
Now, Netanyahu, the Likud Party, the right-wing coalition, and 2.3 million right-wing voters are paying the price of that fleeting loss of confidence. On Sunday morning, on the eve of the most important vote yet in the history of this government, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conveyed a message through his minions, that if there’s no effort to postpone the legislation or a real effort to soften the wording of the bill, he, General Gallant, Marshal of the armies of the Jewish State on land, in the air, and on the high seas, will not participate in the vote. Reshet Bet Radio conveyed the message.
Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi are expected to meet on Sunday, for Halevi to brief the Prime Minister on the anticipated consequences of passing the reasonability bill, and the extent to which the IDF would be harmed.
Halevi consulted over the weekend with the commander of the air force and the head of the intelligence division, to name but two. According to Israeli media, the message the generals conveyed was that today the reserve forces are complete and functioning, but the long-term harm caused by the decision of some 10,000 reservists, some of them in key positions, to walk is going to be terrible.
The above assessment is cogent and legitimate. But then, according to Kan11 News, some generals called on the chief of staff to pressure Netanyahu to surrender to the lawbreakers and drop the bill.
And save democracy via military pressure. Delightful.
There are at least two other weak links in the Likud Party who could bring down the bill: MKs David Bitan and Yuli Edelstein, Netanyahu’s once close lieutenants who have lost favor in his eyes and were denied juicy ministerial posts in the current government.
To paraphrase the old adage: keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but for heaven’s sake, don’t alienate Bitan and Edelstein.
Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri said Saturday night that he is hand in hand with Prime Minister Netanyahu (who received a pacemaker on Saturday) and that they are making an effort to try to reach some sort of understanding, as he put it.
“There is nothing better than understanding and agreement these days,” he said. “But we are determined that by the end of the summer session, the restricted reasonableness will be enacted with consent or, unfortunately, without consent.”
Netanyahu recently said in closed talks that if a compromise is not reached by Sunday, the bill will be passed. There was some talk in the coalition about soliciting last-minute ideas from the opposition, even without committee consent, but Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who was also serving as caretaker prime minister during Netanyahu’s surgery, rejected the idea.
Former Mossad Head Yossi Cohen, who is close to Netanyahu, on Sunday morning wrote an op-ed in Yediot Aharonot calling to “resolutely keep the dispute outside the borders of the IDF and the security organizations.” Cohen, like Gallant, urges “a halt to the legislative process and to immediately and urgently reach a dialogue between the various groups, representing different opinions, to reach the same national consensus that has been a lamp to its feet throughout the years of the existence of the State of Israel.”
Another politician, in another era, who was a cigarette addict and restricted to a wheelchair once said these immortal words:
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive, and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
Give ‘em hell, Bibi!
