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Inside Israel Today: Decision Day in Israeli Politics
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New elections? Gil Hoffman delivers a behind the scenes look at the critical decision being made about whether Israel will form a new government or return to the polls for another election. He compares what is going on in Israel to other countries and to events in Israeli political history. He also encourages listeners to attend his VIP lunch briefing at the Shavuot of a Lifetime weekend at the Mount Zion Hotel on Shabbat June 8.
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you're listening to inside Israel today
with Bill Hoffman on the land of Israel
Network hello and welcome to inside
Israel today on the land of israel
Network on the land of israel comm where
we are in the middle of the most
confusing and strange political crisis
israel has possibly ever had now we went
to elections on April 9th the Prime
Minister won a convincing victory he had
six weeks to form a government it ends
on Wednesday I'm taping this on Tuesday
and we have absolutely no idea whether
he will succeed
you were probably listening to this on
Wednesday maybe a solution has been
reached by now and you are all smarter
than me or maybe when you're listening
to this you're hoping that I tape this
when I know what's going on I'm sorry I
don't
no one does at the moment I want to take
you back to another hot political crisis
I had just came back from a speaking
tour in May of 2012 and I thought this
is a good time to go to the Knesset and
after all the Knesset er was voting to
disperse itself and to initiate an
election and so I went straight from the
airport to the Knesset at 10 o'clock at
night and sure enough a couple hours
later people started asking where is
Showell mofos the leader of the
opposition and it turned out that he was
at Netanyahu's building the largest
coalition that Israel had had in 28
years behind everyone's back when the
Knesset members were voting to disperse
itself really a government was being
built and I'm glad that I happened to be
there that night where everything
changed in the middle of the night and I
was the only one who was well rested
because I sleep well on planes and for
everybody else it was the middle of the
night but for me with jetlag
everything it was no big deal at all and
poor Lahav who had been covering while I
was on the speaking tour the Knesset as
it was work working on disbanding itself
for a couple weeks and finally could
relax and go to bed went to sleep
thinking that there would be an election
and I woke up thinking and all the work
she did the previous two weeks were all
irrelevant and down the drain and Gila
comes back it's off a plane he's there
for all the history and all the action
as it happens in the middle of the night
well it feels like a little deja vu
because right now at the Knesset the
Knesset members are going through all
kinds of processes to initiate an early
election and a repeat election well it's
clear that things are happening not of
the Knesset in order to prevent that
from happening for instance right now as
we speak there's a meeting going on
between a victor Lieberman and one of
the most important ultra-orthodox
operatives in the world
his name is Yankee Kenny F ski okay
Yankee can Jeff ski is responsible for
motion Lyon getting pretty much all the
votes that he got in the first round of
voting for mayor of Jerusalem which was
what allowed him to make the second
round the runoff for mayor of Jerusalem
now where he defeated over bercovich and
so the power of Yankee who is the
grandson of the spiritual mentor of the
Degel hatorah party cannot be
underestimated in the very fact that
Lieberman has agreed to meet with him
after he hasn't even had a serious
meeting with the Prime Minister of
Israel and way too long shows that maybe
in the end there will be a compromise
reached where there's a will there's a
way and right now they're just too many
interests in not going to elections
there is the interest of the public who
would save according to a finance
ministry official 475 mm
in shekels plus the other 5mm they talk
about it but five billion shekels so
that they if they have a day off from
work in this country I think that some
of that is recouped by the spending that
there isn't a deal from work we're
talking tons and tons of money all the
money they would go to the same
political strategist that worked before
some of whom work live abroad so all the
money that goes and campaign fundraising
is given to the various parties and then
all we do is come back with likely a
very similar Knesset maybe with the
bottom people only could falling off the
list because we could as we speak has a
meeting where they are apparently
merging with the colano party of Moshe
Coughlin
but then again I'm taping this at four
o'clock on Tuesday and you're listening
to this on Wednesday and between now and
then anything can happen now somebody
asked me has this ever happened before
in Israel didn't something similar
happen with Tzipi Livni no after woodall
Mert quit because of his corruption
charges at a stage that Netanyahu passed
a year and a half ago where the police
recommended recommending charges against
him then the president gave he is number
two in the party Tzipi Livni a chance to
form a government and she failed because
the ultra-orthodox made demands that she
wasn't willing to give in to and she
decided to initiate an election instead
and that election was won by Netanyahu
sort of she still got one more seat then
Lee could but the liquids block was much
larger and President Shimon Peres at the
time even though he came from the party
of TIF he lived me and did not like
Netanyahu had no choice but to ask
Netanyahu to form a government that's
the closest that's come there also was
what was called the stinking maneuver
where in 1990 shimon peres thought he
had successfully formed a coalition to
break up the national unity government
that he had with the Likud's its hoc
Shamir but then there were a couple
ultra-orthodox Knesset members who
disappeared all of a sudden and weren't
there to vote for him one was hiding in
a cave ladies and gentlemen literally
hiding in a cave and that was why Paris
could not form his government and in the
end
Shamir ended up forming one without him
so no nothing close to what we have now
of a candidate winning an election and
then not succeeding in forming a
government during the six weeks allotted
to him by law so where is there a
precedent well in Britain in according
to the Israel democracy Institute in
Britain in 1974 two elections were held
in February and October in Ireland in
1982 two elections were held in February
and November in Greece in 1989 two
elections were held in June and November
in Greece in 2012 two elections were
held in May and June poor Greeks and in
Spain elections were held in December
2015 and another election in June 2016
so it does happen around the world
ladies and gentlemen now a lot of people
are asking why doesn't Netanyahu form a
coalition with the 60 Knesset members
that he has and the answer is is that he
won't be able to accomplish anything if
he did they would have to if there are
60 might be okay if you have Knesset
members on the other side who are
abstaining but right now it would be 60
versus 60 and that's not gonna work so
also that there Netanyahu wants to
change basic laws in this country the
bills are the four that are the
forerunner to a constitution that
may never get written those bills
require 61 Knesset members out of 120 to
pass there are minority governments
around the world or have been that are
common in democracies such as Canada
Denmark Sweden and Spain and says the
Israel democracy Institute today
minority governments are serving in
Ireland in the United Kingdom Denmark
Norway Spain and Sweden but we've only
had a minority government in Israel
after parties have fallen out of the
government
for instance in its Hawker beans
government after Shas left the
government in the old Barack's
government after Merritt's quit the
government so never have we had a
minority government formed at the
beginning it's certainly not what any
Prime Minister would want to do and so
what we have ladies and gentlemen is a
mess and it's up to the politicians to
forgo their egos on behalf of the people
and avoid that mess and if they do then
sometime over and sometime by Wednesday
night Netanyahu would tell the president
that he has succeeded in forming
government all he has to do is send that
message to him he has by Monday night to
submit the coalition agreements that
would be voted on by next Wednesday and
then he can actually start governing
then yes can work on passing bills on
diplomacy there's a conference in
Bahrain on the 25th of June coming up
where the Trump plan will begin to be
implemented with this conference that
will focus on improving the benefits for
the Palestinians and
there would then be an attempt to
implement this Trump plan which would
perhaps be unveiled shortly around that
time if we go to an election then there
isn't going to be a Trump plan perhaps
because Israel will be busy until the
election would be held on the 17th of
September and then the American
elections are heating up around then and
that's when the White House really
focuses on its own internal issues now
there is still a small very small chance
that somebody else could form a
government let's say that Netanyahu
fails to build a coalition and he also
fails to pass a bill initiating an
election well then time will run out and
then the ball will be given back to the
president who can then have
consultations and who can form a
government now earlier on he concluded
that Athena was the only person who
could form a government not been against
the leader of the balloon white party
but things have a habit of changing if
Netanyahu can't form a government and if
some members of Knesset from is Likud
who don't want to lose their jobs and
the betraying the Likud at the last
minute and not joining the effort to
disperse the Knesset if they decide to
stick around maybe you'll have enough
Knesset members firmly could would be
willing to join been against in his blue
and white party along with colano even
if it's merging somehow with liquid
today even with Lieberman and maybe an
ultra-orthodox party Shas even though
there's not a lot of good relations
between shots and the I repeat number
two and blue and white and then maybe
they could somehow form a government led
by blue and white it is not easy but it
is a technical possibility still the
most likely scenario is that Netanyahu
is our prime minister will be our prime
minister
and perhaps forever will be our
permanent one never knows you want to be
talking more about what's going on here
after the break
hello I'm Gil Hoffman host of inside
Israel today
and I'm honored to be taking part in the
shadow of a lifetime at the Mount Zion
hotel come join yours truly and other
show hosts here such as re Abramowitz
Jeremy Gimpel Yves Harrow Yishai
Fleischer talking about Torah and
inspiration what will I be talking about
you'll just have to come out to the
Mount Zion hotel to gloat of a lifetime
Thursday through Monday June sixth
through tenth 2019 for more information
visit the land of israel dodge travel
that's the land of israel dodge travel
[Music]
and we're back ladies and gentlemen here
on inside Israel today on the Land of
Israel network on the Land of Israel com
where we call ourselves a radio station
sometimes and not just a podcast
perhaps it's the vestige of the voice of
Israel radio network
may God bless its memory that was sort
of a radio station even though it was
online and one of the detriments to us
not really being a radio station is that
I don't have callers calling me in right
now to ask questions I would love to
take questions from callers right now
though I have a caller who was a
producer sitting next to me over here
and he's been asking very good questions
so first of all he asked our Naftali
Bennett and the yellowjacket still
ministers the answer is absolutely yes
if we go to an election they will
continue to be ministers until new
ministers are sworn in we go to an
election on September 17th and there's
going to be six weeks for somebody to
form a government
we're just taking us to the very end of
October and that means that the minister
who of Education he'll be greeting
students as they arrive for the first
day of school will be enough Tully
Bennett and a yellow chick ed will still
be there trying to change the judicial
system and reform it and she'll still be
the minister who heads the Ministerial
Committee on legislation pretty much
decides what bills pass and Michael Oren
it's not been a member of Knesset since
he left but he is still technically the
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's
office in charge of international
diplomacy even though he quit his cool
on who party even though he doesn't even
have a party and neither does the
electric head right now so that is still
very much in the open the caller sitting
next to me asks about the number of
Ministers allowed well yesterday Monday
the cabinet was supposed to bring to the
Knesset a vote on expanding the cabinet
there is a bill that would negate the
previous bill that limited the number of
ministers to 18 last time in the last
government in 2015 they passed what was
called in Hebrew a hotshot a temporary
change just for one term that allowed
there to be more ministers and now this
bill which is ready for its final
readings to pass into law would allow
Netanyahu basically to a point as many
ministers as he wants not just 18 not
just the 26 that were the most likely he
can appoint a Google ministers
that's right Google is still the largest
number and not just a website that makes
a lot of money so Netanyahu needs to
change the law in order to appoint 26
ministers by next Wednesday and it is
still very much doable if elections are
not happening but yesterday they did not
pass this bill because they were too
busy working on dispersing the Knesset
no I feel so bad for some of these
Knesset members who just got elected
especially the ones in Likud you've got
people there that they just got elected
they there now are voting to lose their
own jobs some of them left good jobs or
to run for Knesset there's a woman named
Oh snot mark who joined the previous
Knesset at the last minute and barely
got to do anything and then we went to
elections and then she got reelected and
she's in the new Knesset and hasn't
gotten to do anything yet other than
vote for her own job to be lost and now
she sees Netanyahu make a deal with [ __ ]
alone that could give up her seat in the
Knesset in with in favor of one of the
Knesset members in kula no she was
quoted saying outside this meeting where
the merger was supposed to be taking
place why should I give up my seat for
you fat Shasha be tone who is she anyway
who is he fat Shasha be tone ephod
Shasha be
tone is our minister of housing ladies
and gentlemen well what do you mean you
don't know who she is
Oh snot mark she is a minister who was
raised in Kiryat Shmona and is the top
woman left in the Kulin who party is a
very impressive person she got the
housing ministry job when Yoav gallon
deflected for affected from coolin Oh
Thule could where he was then given the
job of immigrant absorption minister in
a place of soulful and ver who was fired
when you smell potato left the
government does not not read the paper
it doesn't none remember all these
exciting developments that have taken
place in Israeli politics to not know
you fought
Shasha Beto so I think if I'm the
Knesset if I'm Lily could I would
perhaps draw up a new list that hasn't
all the Knesset members in lis could
right now plus the ones from cool ah no
they're only four anyway from cool on oh
just take out Oh snot mark because of
snot mark is a bad luck charm every time
she is there the elections are initiated
apparently the Knesset cannot tolerate
having go snot mark in its midst
now we're also gonna wait and see is
there going to be any tension inside the
blue and white party after all they made
it through one election and can they
make it through to in their party they
have a rotation for prime minister that
means the first two and a half years
we're supposed to be been against as
prime minister in the final two years
were supposed to be I repeat I started
causing trouble they're asking Knesset
members you know Gans needs to move out
of the way of Lapita now a rotation is a
rotation as a rotation its lipids turn
and I don't expect them to make any
changes in the end then again could very
well not be an election anyway which
makes all kinds of questions
and well where will there be an election
there will be an election ladies and
gentlemen for leader of the Labour Party
that's right the Labour Party which has
had eight elections for leader of the
party since 2001 hasn't had an election
since July of 2017 come on now you've
led a V gap I lead this party now for
almost two years he led the party to six
seats in the Knesset by far the least
that the Labour Party ever got only a
quarter of the votes that they got in 24
when they ran were together at Tzipi
Livni 2015 and after God by one only
succeeds the honorable thing to do would
have been to quit he did not quit he is
still there and he has not said firmly
that he's not running again for a leader
of the Labour Party if they move up
elections then maybe he'd have even more
reason to stay cuz nobody else would be
ready then again if I'm away we're party
ID it would take somebody knew that
something that nobody knows anything
about you've got a former IDF deputy
chief of staff named vir Golan who
intends to run the number two guy in
labor it sexually or was number two
because they saved the seat for another
former general tal Russo and then shmuly
who won the number two seat was moved to
number three on the list he got a huge
number of votes in the primary shmuly
he's definitely popular within the
labour party and we'll see how popular
he is in the general public he's seen as
a socio-economic activist who is a very
good worker in the in the parliament
passed a lot of bills even though he was
in the opposition that helped ordinary
people who are from disadvantaged
sectors maybe he will become the leader
of the Labour Party you never know
or maybe there'll be somebody who sweeps
the party off their feet who I haven't
even heard of yet you never know so look
we don't know as we're sitting here and
whether there's going to be an election
for Prime Minister and for the Knesset
we don't know if the blue and white
party is going to stay together we
know that the Labour Party will always
fight and always self-destruct that is
the one thing I know as I'm sitting here
taping this wonderful show inside Israel
today perhaps inside Israel tomorrow
we'll all know a lot more thank you for
meeting with us and I'm looking forward
to being with you again next week when
we will all be so much wiser please have
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it been many years since you've met some
would initially forget everything if you
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come to Jerusalem for sure look it's so
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