Tel Aviv Diary: Bibi's Cabinet Circus Act

Even by the usually chaotic standards of Israeli politics, Thursday will go down as one of the most chaotic and unusual days in its 67 years. The Israeli press were tripping over themselves to find the right words to characterize the day.

In the end, many settled on the term circus-like. Thursday marked five and a half months since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disbanded his last government, and it was almost the last day he could statutorily form a new government.

The prime minister had called for a special session of the parliament to meet at 7 p.m. Throughout the day, he held marathon meetings with members of his own party, informing them of what roles they would play in the new government (i.e. what cabinet posts they would hold).

Going into the marathon meeting, Netanyahu was aware he would have a hard time. He had given away too many cabinet positions to his coalition partners, and it was clear he was not going to keep everyone happy. As the day wore on, the tension mounted, and when 7 o'clock approached, the prime minister asked for a three-hour delay. The Knesset granted a two-hour delay.

As 9 p.m. neared, it was still not clear which members of the Likud were going to be in the government. However, there were rumors that the number two in the Likud party list (outgoing Interior Minister Gilad Erdan) would not be in the government.

Over the course of the day, in attempts to satisfy members of his party, Netanyahu agreed to some strange cabinet appointment combinations, including assigning the powerful Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz the post of intelligence minister.

When the political correspondent for Channel 10 news was asked, "What is the connection between these two ministries?" he deadpanned that when you are in the central bus station and you need to know when your bus is leaving, you go to the modi'in (the Hebrew word for "intelligence," which doubles as the Israeli word for "information desk"). He, of course, hurried to explain that there was no operational logic, just the need for the prime minister to honor his promise to give Katz a more important position this time.

Finally, a little after 9 o'clock in the evening, the Knesset met, and the prime minister gave a short speech. In the inaugural address of his fourth term as prime minister, Netanyahu did not lay out the goals of his new administration but chose to attack the Israeli electoral system—blaming the system for how long it took him to form a government, and adamantly denouncing the system for forcing him to agree to so many coalition demands.

He called on former Interior Minister Erdan to join his government, even though a few minutes later (when he announced the list of ministers), he left no portfolio to give Erdan.

In his speech, which was interrupted repeatedly by shouts of opposition members, he also thanked Knesset member Tzachi Hanegbi for agreeing to be in the coalition. To add a little color to the chaos of the night, Hanegbi informed the press that he had agreed to no such thing.

Following Netanyahu's speech, the leader of the opposition, Yitzhak Herzog, gave one of the fieriest and most effective speeches of his career in which he called on Netanyahu to appoint a foreign minister, since he and his party would never join the "circus" of a coalition that is the current Netanyahu government. (Netanyahu had been widely quoted as saying that he was holding on to the portfolio as a lure to bring the Zionist Union into the government.)

Herzog went on to say that Netanyahu had no vision for the country—other than his mission to continue as prime minister. Herzog warned Netanyahu against doing anything that might hurt the independent judiciary, the free media or the rights of Israeli minorities.

Many observers commented that if Herzog had shown the level of focus or fire and brimstone he exhibited last night before the recent election, he might have been the one announcing his cabinet.

The final drama of the day played out a little later in the evening as the vote on the new government neared. During Netanyahu's speech, both Erdan and HaNegbi (the two most senior Likud members, both disappointed with their status in the new government) were not present. There was some speculation on whether the veteran Likud duo would show up for the vote, or whether, in an act of spite, one or other might decide to end the Netanyahu government before it began.

However, when the vote was called, both appeared and the government was approved by a vote of 61–59. Yesterday's events—as agreed, even by a Likud spokesman—do not bode well for the smooth running of Netanyahu's fourth government. Moreover, Herzog's strong words about not joining the government seem to close the door to the possibility of broadening the coalition (at least for now).

Israeli politics has never been boring. It looks like we can expect the coming months to be even more interesting than usual.

Marc Schulman is the editor of HistoryCentral.com.