‘Change' will not change Palestine-Israel situation

In one way or another Netanyahu betrayed or alienated all five men who have committed to form a disparate left-center-right extreme right coalition. Their goal is to overthrow Netanyahu

- Michael Jansen

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

The Israeli Knesset, which emerged after the March election this year, is a fractured body with 13 parties, a number often considered unlucky. This time, perhaps, it will be unlucky for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who has dominated the Israeli political scene for 12 years and whose Likud bloc lost seven seats in the fourth contest held over the past two years.

No fewer than eight parties have ganged up against Netanyahu to form the so-called “Change” coalition, leaving him with the backing of only four holding 42 seats in the 120 seat Knesset.

These are the Likud with 30 seats, the Oriental religious party Shas with nine seats, the ultraOrthodox United Torah Judaism with seven, and the extremist religious Zionist party (an offshoot of outlawed Kahanism) with six. Other small parties which oppose “Change” won 15 seats while one Knesset member from the “Change” coalition opposes its bid raising the number in the opposition to 58. One remains undeclared.

The “Change” coalition consists of centrist Yesh Atid with 17 seats, Blue and White with eight, far-right Yamina with seven, Labour with seven, right-wing Yisrael Beiteinou with seven, New Hope with six, leftist Meretz with six, and the Palestinian Israeli conservative United List with four. If the coalition survives, the United List will be the first party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel to enter government although, on occasion, these parties have supported a government from outside. The United List will not claim a ministerial portfolio but chairmanship of an influential Knesset committee or two.