Israel Matzav

Emergency? What emergency?

Citing an 'emergency' (with the south the quietest it has been since 2001, the economy booming and Iran not a threat for the next few months, at least, there is no emergency and claiming there is one is demagoguery), Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett (no, not Yacimovitch - couldn't find a picture with the right combination) have called for a 'national unity' government with the Likud after the elections. No, of course not with each other. But national unity all the same. You think they're worried about being left out in the cold or something?

But national unity governments here typically run about 80 seats. Those three parties - if they would all get together - plus Likud right now would be around 65. While each of them want to go in with the Likud, Lapid won't go in with Bennett, Bennett won't go in with Livni (at lesat on Livni's terms), and Livni won't go in with Bennett. So where's the unity?

And whom do they want to exclude? Lapid (and probably Livni) want to exclude the Haredim and the 'extremists.' So who's an extremist? In Livni's mind, Bennett for one.  And do you really think Bibi is going to have a coalition with both Bennett and Livni? And do you think Livni - who's plotzing to be foreign minister and give the country away - is going into a coalition with Bennett, who wants to be foreign minister and make sure there's never a 'Palestinian state'?

"I am a responsible person," said Yesh Atid party head Yair Lapid at a conference organized by Ma'ariv. "We can build a national unity government oriented toward economic and social issues - one which is not right-wing extremist and haredi."  

Lapid continued: "I guarantee that if there won't be equality in the burden of IDF service, and if there will be higher taxes, we will not sit in the Knesset. If they sell us out, we won't be in government."

Tzipi Livni agreed on the need for unity, saying "We require a national emergency government." Earlier in the day, Livni warned that Israel is in a "state of emergency" and promised to work toward a national unity government that would be Centrist and Zionist in its orientation.

Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennet said "We must create an emergency government, oriented towards the economy, with Yair Lapid and [Likud Minister] Yisrael Katz."

Notably absent from Bennet's statement was Tzipi Livni, who has billed herself as the only candidate that will work towards a peace deal with the Palestinians. "I am against a Palestinian state," said Bennet. "The land of Israel has been ours for 3,800 years."

Well, maybe if Bibi thinks he can play Livni and Bennett off against each other to keep everyone else in line. But that's not likely.

And by the way, there's no 'emergency' relating to the economy either. The economy is booming. But no one can afford to buy anything. That's not a problem with the economy. We're practically at full employment. It's a problem with an overspending government that takes overly high taxes in order to make sure it doesn't run Obamaesque deficits. We need to cut the spending across the board (except Defense and maybe Education). And we need to cut - not raise - taxes.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli economy, Knesset elections 2013, Naftali Bennett, Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:16 PM