In an interesting political move, alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz (Blue&White) fired Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel (Derech Eretz) today from his ministerial position. Zvika Hauser and his partner Yoaz Hendel merged with Gantz’s Blue&White party when they all joined Netanyahu’s dysfunctional unity government. Gantz will take over the Communications ministry.
With the Knesset in the midst of voting for new elections, and after the semi-dramatic exit of MK Gidon Sa’ar from the Likud party, Hauser and Hendel made it clear they would run with Sa’ar’s party in the next election and supported Sa’ar for the position of Prime Minister in the next Knesset.
Gantz is also trying to get Hauser fired as head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, but that will require a Knesset vote.
Gantz said that since the two have chosen a new political home, they ended their careers in the Blue&White party.
After the last elections, Hauser and Hendel insisted they would only join a unity government. If instead they had chosen to join with Yamina and together join Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition and not merge with Gantz, there would have been a stable and functioning government today.
Despite their ideological error of insisting on a guaranteed-to-fail unity government at all costs, the two have been very effective and competent politicians.
The Likud is attempting to block the upcoming vote to dissolve the 35th Knesset.
Netanyahu wants to wait until December 23 when the Knesset will be automatically dissolved after no annual budget has been passed. In which case elections would be on March 23, 2021. The advantage for the Likud in doing that, is that it blocks any attempts to change any election laws that would harm the Likud, and guarantees Netanyahu remains Prime Minister through the transition government.
More importantly, it gives Netanyahu another week to try and get Gantz to back out of the rotation agreement and restructure the ministerial positions, at which point the Knesset could then pass the annual budget and this government would continue.