Netanyahu: letting Arab parties into gov’t will ‘dismantle’ Israel
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letting → let → Israel
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has accepted the certified results of last week’s parliamentary elections and begun consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government.
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President → accept → government
The moves on Wednesday dealt a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to discredit the vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in the 120-member parliament, while Arab-led parties made historic gains.
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parties → deal → gains
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latest → vote → talks
- list 4 of 4Israel election: When will government be formed, who will lead it?
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who → form → it
Now is the time to face reality,” Herzog said.
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Herzog → face → reality
In the October 27 vote, neither Netanyahu’s coalition nor the bloc of his chief rival, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats required to govern.
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coalition → secure → seats
The prime minister’s coalition won 53, while Eisonkot’s got 48.
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Eisonkot → win → 48
That leaves open the possibility of an alliance between the two men or an alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab-led parties – Ra’am and the Joint List – which had secured a record 19 seats.
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which → leave → seats
Herzog began his consultations with party leaders on Wednesday night.
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Herzog → begin → night
Three factions aligned with Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist base recommended that he be given a chance to form a coalition, while a fourth, led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, backed Eisenkot.
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fourth → align → Eisenkot
Eight more parties, including the two Arab-led factions, are scheduled to meet with the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Netanyahu’s Likud going last.
Ra’am backs Eisenkot
Eisenkot’s prospects improved when Ra’am, a major Arab-led party, said it would recommend him.
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it → include → him
That brought his expected support to 56 lawmakers, according to the Israeli news site Ynet, which is still short of a majority.
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which → bring → majority
The other Arab-led party, the Joint List, has not announced its position.
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party → lead → position
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the party was expected to coordinate with Eisenkot, endorsing him if asked or abstaining if he preferred.
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he → report → him
Its 11 seats could push him past 61.
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seats → push → 61
Netanyahu’s 53-seat bloc, by contrast, may not yield 53 endorsements.
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bloc → yield → endorsements
Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism’s seven seats, said it would recommend neither candidate.
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it → hold → candidate
The ultra-Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu over his coalition’s failure to pass legislation exempting Haredi men from military service, The Times of Israel reported.
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Times → break → Israel
Once the consultations end, Herzog will choose the candidate he considers best placed to assemble a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot.
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he → end → coalition
He has several days to announce his decision, after which the nominee will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension.
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nominee → have → extension
If neither man succeeds, Israel would hold another election early next year.
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Israel → succeed → election
Netanyahu and his supporters meanwhile have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that the Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, possibly with foreign assistance.
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parties → make → assistance
But Israel’s elections commission said earlier on Wednesday that it had conducted a thorough investigation of all parties’ claims of fraud and found “no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results”.
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that → say → results
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.
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Miara → reject → evidence
Herzog urged both camps to compromise to avoid a new election, saying they must accept that “not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled”.
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commitment → urge → election
“In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner,” he said.
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he → be → Israel
He also backed investigating the suspected interference but warned against smearing Palestinian-Israeli voters, saying he had “great respect” for Israel’s Palestinian minority, which makes up about 20 percent of the population.
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which → back → population
“I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently,” he said.
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he → condemn → that
The Aporia
