According to the Times News of Israel, the opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu will form a 62 vote coalition in order to pass two laws, effectively blocking Netanyahu from forming a government and being Prime Minister:
The Yisrael Beytenu party announced on Thursday that it would support a law barring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from forming the next government, in a move that would likely ensure a majority for such legislation in the Knesset.
“At the faction meeting that just ended, it was decided to move forward with the promotion of two laws,” the secular, right-wing said in a statement. “The first law [will] limit the tenure of a prime minister to two terms. The second law [will] prevent an MK facing indictment from forming a government.”
The legislation is aimed directly at Netanyahu, who has served four terms as prime minister and has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three criminal cases against him that are slated to begin on March 17.
In response to this news, Mark Levin posted a Facebook post lamenting the crumbling of Israel from within:
The anti-Netanyahu forces are destroying Israel from within. In this week’s election, Netanyahu and his party received the most votes. With his conservative coalition they have a total of 58 seats out of 120 in the Knesset. The main opposition party can only cobble together 55 seats, which includes 15 seats from the Arab parties. The Arab parties oppose the existence of the state of Israel and include Islamists, Arab nationalists, and communists.
The problem is Netanyahu needs 3 more Knesset members to reach 61, a governing majority. In all three of the last elections, a former Netanyahu cabinet member, Liberman, who formed his own minority party, has siphoned an average of 7 votes from Netanyahu’s Likud party, repeatedly denying Netanyahu a majority.
Now, Liberman announced today that he’s joining the Netanyahu opposition in the Knesset to pass two laws that will reverse the results of the election and effectively force Israel into further chaos. The first is to limit prime ministers to two terms. The second is to prevent an indicted Knesset member from running for office. The second law is intended to stop Netanyahu from serving as prime minister even though he won the election and even though this law would be applied retroactively. (The charges against Netanyahu, as I’ve explained before, are bogus and politically motivated, and he won re-election despite them.)
The Left, the Arab parties, and disgruntled Liberman have joined forces to usurp the will of the Israeli people and use the byzantine party system to destroy the longest serving and arguably greatest prime minister in Israel’s history, at a time when he has delivered more foreign and economic policy successes than ever imagined. And while Israeli politicians play games positioning themselves for power and control, in spite of the decisions of the voters, ironically I’m reminded of the fall of the Roman Empire. The enemies from within empower the enemies from outside who are looking in. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc., are plotting, planning, and salivating. They, too, want Netanyahu’s removal and celebrate his domestic enemies weakening Israel.
I can’t imagine this will go down well with the people who’ve just spent three elections getting to this point, only to have it unraveled by the worst of Netanyahu’s haters, when he’s only three seats away from forming a government. Clearly he has the will of the people, but thanks to Lieberman and his hatred of Netanyahu the opposition may win the day. I’ll keep you updated on further developments.