![]() However, Lustick says the new government has also proven to be reasonably skilful at defying Netanyahu’s attempts at sabotage and has set aside controversial subjects that could widen rifts within the coalition. “There is every incentive for all of them to climb the steep learning curve quickly if they want a political future in Israel.” Prime Minister Bennett is a former settler leader and hard-right religious nationalist who has called for the annexation of most of the occupied West Bank “The coalition is going to have to become much more adept at working with the procedures to prove it can govern,” said Divine. Moreover, since this is a government of relatively inexperienced politicians, it has made several errors during its first month in office – such as when Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy accidentally voted against a government-backed bill. Netanyahu has previously backed the law but opposed its renewal during the vote in early July. The coalition’s margin for error is slim and it has already suffered a few major defeats in the Knesset, including failing to extend a law that denies citizenship and residency rights to Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip who marry Palestinian citizens of Israel. Thirdly, the opposition is also making efforts to cajole or entice members of the coalition, including Defence Minister Benny Gantz, to desert it in favour of a deal that would result in a new government featuring Netanyahu. “Legislative and political manoeuvres are deployed to create tensions within the governing coalition by raising issues related to issues such as settlements, the rights of, or how vehemently to oppose US outreach to Iran, that have the potential to strain the coalition by forcing it to unite on a position that either its left or right flanks – or both – find difficult to accept,” said Lustick. Secondly, Lustick said Netanyahu and his allies have sought to use filibusters to frustrate and delay government legislation and to create tensions within the governing coalition by tabling a succession of bills on controversial subjects designed to exploit their ideological divisions particularly between Bennett, a former settler leader and hard-right religious nationalist who has called for the annexation of most of the occupied West Bank, and other parties. So, Netanyahu’s approach is to set up all sorts of roadblocks to the reforms and legislation the coalition wants,” she said. “They have added to the disorder in what is typically not an entirely civil discourse. “They are deploying every Knesset rule and procedure to oppose anything the government proposes.” “Netanyahu and Likud are determined to undermine the ability of this government to function properly,” Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar professor emerita of Jewish Studies at Smith College, told Al Jazeera. Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, on charges he denies, has only deepened his desperation to return to power, and as the Knesset’s new opposition leader and the head of Likud, the largest party in parliament, he and his allies have been using a range of political tactics to frustrate the government. It brought an end to the 12-year premiership of Netanyahu, the most dominant Israeli politician of his generation, who had failed to form a government after Israel’s March 23 election – its fourth in two years. On June 13, Israel’s parliament swore in a new eight-party coalition government – led by right-wing nationalist Bennett – featuring an alliance of left-wing, centrist and right-wing parties, as well as a party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. On top of all the challenges Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett already faces in trying to hold an unlikely, ideologically-diverse ruling coalition together, analysts say he also has to deal with a concerted attempt by his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu to sabotage the government’s work and bring it down. ![]()
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