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Benny Gantz, With Thin Majority, Wins Chance to Form an Israeli Government Benny Gantz, With Thin Majority, Wins Chance to Form Israeli Government
(about 5 hours later)
JERUSALEM — Benny Gantz, the centrist former army chief seeking to depose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, on Sunday received the endorsements of a narrow majority of lawmakers, all but assuring that he would be given the first chance to form a government. JERUSALEM — Benny Gantz, the centrist former army chief battling to depose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, on Sunday won the endorsements of a narrow majority of lawmakers, earning him a fresh chance to form a government and break Israel’s yearlong political deadlock.
In a first, all 15 members of the combined slate of predominantly Arab parties, the Joint List, joined lawmakers from Jewish parties in recommending Mr. Gantz to President Reuven Rivlin. The surprise majority for Mr. Gantz, 60, who earned the backing both of Arab lawmakers often accused of sympathizing with terrorists and from ultranationalist lawmakers often called rabidly anti-Arab, puts him in a stronger-than-expected position to try to pry loose Mr. Netanyahu’s 11-year grip on power.
Mr. Gantz won the recommendations of 61 lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset. He was also endorsed by Avigdor Liberman’s ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party. Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, said he would formally assign Mr. Gantz, of the Blue and White party, the mandate to form a government at midday on Monday.
It remains unclear whether Mr. Gantz will be able to form a government, however. Mr. Liberman and leaders of the Joint List have loudly and frequently refused to cooperate. But they could put their differences aside to achieve the shared goal of ousting Mr. Netanyahu. But Mr. Rivlin also summoned Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu, 70, to his residence Sunday night for an “urgent conversation” about the possibility of bringing their parties together in a national unity government to contend with the emergency posed by the coronavirus pandemic. After about 90 minutes, Mr. Gantz and Mr. Netanyahu emerged and promised that their aides would continue the talks.
The consultations between Mr. Rivlin and party leaders came on a tumultuous day for Israeli democracy. Many here awoke to the news that Mr. Netanyahu’s handpicked justice minister, Amir Ohana, had imposed emergency measures on Israeli courts, in an order announced after 1 a.m. The momentous goings-on came on an extraordinarily tumultuous day. With much of the country grinding to a halt or stuck at home, Israeli citizens were still absorbing news of draconian measures that Mr. Netanyahu’s caretaker government was considering to fight the virus, including an idea to deploy secret surveillance tools now used to hunt terrorists to identify people who should be quarantined.
Court officials, citing the coronavirus pandemic, then seized on Mr. Ohana’s order early Sunday to delay Mr. Netanyahu’s long-awaited trial on bribery and other corruption charges, which had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday. The soonest it will start now is May 24. Then, early Sunday, came word that the court system had been effectively shut down in a middle-of-the-night decree by Mr. Netanyahu’s handpicked justice minister, and that, a few hours later, Mr. Netanyahu’s criminal trial on bribery and other corruption charges, which was set to open on Tuesday, had been pushed off at least until late May.
Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, failed on March 2 for the third time in a year to win a new term outright after he fell short of a majority in parliamentary elections. Anti-Netanyahu forces led by Mr. Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party won a slim majority in Parliament, but Israel remains politically deadlocked. Mr. Netanyahu’s holdover right-wing government, led by his Likud party, is still in charge but is wanting for public legitimacy. The unexpected postponement set off a wave of criticism from Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents. “We have the Italian mafia here, and how,” Yariv Oppenheimer, a former director of Peace Now, wrote on Twitter.
“Courts and parliamentary operations must not be suspended, even in emergencies,” said Nitzan Horowitz, leader of the left-wing Meretz party.
Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases in which prosecutors say he traded lucrative official favors with Israeli media tycoons who rewarded him with expensive gifts and with obsequiously positive news coverage.
He failed on March 2 to win a new term outright after he again fell short of a majority in parliamentary elections, the third inconclusive ballot in less than a year.
Anti-Netanyahu forces led by Mr. Gantz won a slim majority in Parliament, but until a government is formed, Mr. Netanyahu’s holdover coalition of right-wing and religious parties remains in charge.
But the caretaker government is wanting for public legitimacy, a problem that has become critical as Mr. Netanyahu has ordered drastic action to curtailthe routines of daily life in response to the coronavirus.
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The charges against Mr. Netanyahu include fraud and breach of trust. He is accused of accepting bribes from several media tycoons including expensive gifts and overwhelmingly positive media coverage in exchange for lucrative official favors. As Israel’s coronavirus caseload topped 200 Sunday morning, the government ordered the closing of all leisure venues, including cafes, restaurants, gyms, day care centers and cultural institutions. Public gatherings are limited to 10 people, and workers must work from home if possible. Mr. Netanyahu tested negative for the virus on Sunday, officials said.
Mr. Netanyahu said on Sunday morning that he had again asked Mr. Gantz to “join a national emergency government headed by me.” He said he had proposed to lead such a government for two years and then to allow Mr. Gantz to take over as prime minister. In a first, all 15 members of the combined slate of predominantly Arab parties, the Joint List, joined lawmakers from several Jewish parties in recommending Mr. Gantz to Mr. Rivlin.
Leaving the president’s residence on Sunday, Ayman Odeh, the Joint List’s leader, said it had recommended Mr. Gantz in part out of concern for Israeli democracy. “We see fascism in the regime,” he told reporters, “not in the society, but in the one who heads the government, Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Among the Jewish parties backing Mr. Gantz was the seven-seat, ultranationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Avigdor Liberman, a onetime ally of Mr. Netanyahu who has made it his mission to end the prime minister’s career.
Both Mr. Liberman and leaders of the Joint List had kept their intentions in doubt right up until their meetings with Mr. Rivlin.
The most surprising support for Mr. Gantz came from the three lawmakers belonging to Balad, an Arab-nationalist faction in the Joint List that opposes the idea of Israel as a Jewish state. Mtanes Shehadeh, the party’s leader, said Balad had initially planned to abstain from recommending Mr. Gantz, but endorsed him “in order to topple the leadership of the largest generators of incitement against the Arab society and its leadership.”
Mr. Gantz remains a great distance away from ousting Mr. Netanyahu. His ability to play hardball politics is constrained by the virus emergency and by an almost universal public aversion to a fourth election. And he will need to hold together his motley collection of supporters, who are anything but natural allies, in the face of an anticipated onslaught from Mr. Netanyahu and his defenders.
Still, in contrast to last fall, when he and Mr. Netanyahu each took a turn trying to form a government without success, Mr. Gantz holds important new advantages.
Crucially, he now has the backing of an absolute parliamentary majority, however thin. That gives Mr. Gantz the initiative, and his supporters say Mr. Netanyahu will have to either acquiesce to Mr. Gantz’s becoming prime minister or stand in the way — at a time when the public health emergency has created grave political risks for any lawmaker seen as obstructing the response to it.
Moreover, the funding crunch that is being felt by recipients of government largess after more than a year without a national budget could eventually encourage even some of Mr. Netanyahu’s staunchest allies — the ultra-Orthodox parties, whose constituents rely heavily on such benefits — to relent, supporters of Mr. Gantz said.
Mr. Gantz is said to prefer a unity government under his leadership in which Blue and White is joined by Mr. Netanyahu’s secular, right-of-center Likud party. The two parties, Israel’s largest, would enjoy a healthy 69-seat majority in Parliament and, polls show, broad popular support. But Likud has adamantly rejected the idea until now, insisting that Mr. Netanyahu continue as prime minister in any deal.
With Mr. Rivlin assigning Mr. Gantz the mandate, however, Blue and White on Sunday signaled its intent to force a vote on a new speaker of Parliament, a key office now held by Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party. That would free Blue and White to appoint committee leaders and get Parliament up and running again, among other things to provide oversight to the Netanyahu government’s response to the virus.
A new speaker would also allow Blue and White to control the legislative process — which could help it pressure Likud, for example by advancing legislation to impose term limits or other measures that could prevent Mr. Netanyahu from running if a fourth election becomes necessary.
The Joint List’s endorsement of Mr. Gantz aside, Arab lawmakers are not about to join a new Israeli government: They are loath to share responsibility for the Israeli occupation of the West Bank or for future military action against their fellow Palestinians in Gaza, among other things.
But the prospect that the Joint List could side with Mr. Gantz in potential no-confidence votes, as Arab parties did for Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s, could be helpful to Mr. Gantz in negotiating with other potential coalition partners.
For his part, Mr. Netanyahu worked feverishly on Sunday to bolster his chances of holding on.
Shortly before the start of the party leaders’ consultations with Mr. Rivlin, he announced that he had again asked Mr. Gantz to “join a national emergency government headed by me.” He said he had proposed to lead such a government for two years and then to allow Mr. Gantz to take over as prime minister.
But opponents of Mr. Netanyahu have spurned his previous overtures about such a rotation agreement on the grounds that they do not believe he would keep a promise to step aside.But opponents of Mr. Netanyahu have spurned his previous overtures about such a rotation agreement on the grounds that they do not believe he would keep a promise to step aside.
Mr. Gantz responded witheringly to the idea. “Netanyahu, let’s not manipulate the public,” he wrote on Twitter. “If you’re interested in unity, why postpone your trial at 1 a.m. and send an ‘emergency unity’ outline to the press, instead of sending your negotiating team to a meeting? Unlike you, I will continue to support every appropriate governmental measure, leaving political considerations aside. When you get serious, we can talk.”Mr. Gantz responded witheringly to the idea. “Netanyahu, let’s not manipulate the public,” he wrote on Twitter. “If you’re interested in unity, why postpone your trial at 1 a.m. and send an ‘emergency unity’ outline to the press, instead of sending your negotiating team to a meeting? Unlike you, I will continue to support every appropriate governmental measure, leaving political considerations aside. When you get serious, we can talk.”
The delay of Mr. Netanyahu's trial set off a wave of criticism on the Israeli left. “We have the Italian mafia here, and how,” Yariv Oppenheimer, a former director of Peace Now, wrote on Twitter. Even before the postponement of Mr. Netanyahu’s criminal trial, his opponents had accused him of exploiting the pandemic to consolidate his power and to try to force the establishment of a national unity government with himself at its head.
And Nitzan Horowitz, leader of the Meretz party, said, “Courts and parliamentary operations must not be suspended, even in emergencies.” “Everyone who criticized us when we warned that we were turning into Erdogan’s Turkey should acknowledge and internalize the cynical exploitation of the coronavirus crisis for the personal political interests of a defendant before a trial,” Moshe Yaalon, another former army chief who is a leader of Mr. Gantz’s party, wrote on Twitter just before midnight Saturday.
Leaving the president’s residence on Sunday, Ayman Odeh, the Joint List’s leader, said it had recommended Mr. Gantz in part out of concern for Israeli democracy. “We see fascism in the regime,” he told reporters, “not in the society, but in the one who heads the government, Benjamin Netanyahu.” After the shutdown of the court system, Mr. Yaalon added: “Blue and White has enlisted to eradicate the coronavirus, unconditionally and without political interests. Blue and White cannot be complicit in the elimination of democracy in our country by a defendant running away from justice.”
The written order by the justice minister, Mr. Ohana, had a duration of a single day, but a spokesman said officials would reassess the situation late Sunday and decide whether to extend it. Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.
It was released just hours after Mr. Netanyahu announced on Saturday night that digital and technological means would be employed to track citizens known to have contracted the virus — an extraordinary measure that he said had been drawn from Israel’s war on terrorism.
Israel was “at war” with an “invisible enemy,” said Mr. Netanyahu, who has been tested for the coronavirus as a precautionary measure, his office said on Sunday.
The attorney general approved the new surveillance measures overnight.
Even before the announcement by Mr. Ohana, Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents had accused him of exploiting the pandemic to consolidate his power and to try to force the establishment of a national unity government with himself at its head.
“Everyone who criticized us when we warned that we were turning into Erdogan’s Turkey should acknowledge and internalize the cynical exploitation of the coronavirus crisis for the personal political interests of a defendant before a trial,” Moshe Yaalon, a former army chief who is a leader of Mr. Gantz’s party, wrote on Twitter just before midnight Saturday.
Early Sunday, after Mr. Ohana’s order but before the Netanyahu trial had formally been delayed, Mr. Yaalon added: “Blue and White has enlisted to eradicate the coronavirus, unconditionally and without political interests. Blue and White cannot be complicit in the elimination of democracy in our country by a defendant running away from justice.”
As Israel’s coronavirus caseload topped 200 Sunday morning, the government ordered the closure of all leisure venues, including cafes, restaurants, gyms, day care centers and cultural institutions. Public gatherings are limited to 10 people, and workers must work from home if possible.
The defense minister, Naftali Bennett, announced late Saturday that Israel was converting three hotels — in northern, central and southern Israel — to isolate patients known to be carrying the virus but who have not yet shown symptoms. The move was meant to avoid overwhelming hospitals with patients who may not need much medical care.
The Jerusalem Waqf, a trust that administers the Islamic holy sites atop the Temple Mount, announced on Sunday that it was shutting Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock indefinitely. Prayers will still be permitted in outdoor areas of the Temple Mount.