Israel Matzav

Netanyahu makes post-election deal with Herzog and Livni?

This is sole-sourced from DEBKA, so take it with a grain of salt, but I would not put this past him. DEBKA is reporting that Prime Minister Netanyahu is already cutting a deal to share power with the Labor party after the elections.

The opinion samplings taken privately by party strategists indicate a close run in the March 17 general election between Binyamin Netanyahu’s Lilkud and Yitzhak Herzog’s opposition Labor, since he formed a partnership with Tzipi Livni and her small Hatnuah. , Likud stays marginally ahead with 23-24 (out of 120) Knesset seats compared with Labor’s 20-22.

Instead of engaging in the excruciating, separate horse-trading for a government coalition after the elections with a bunch of small factions, Netanyahu and Herzog appear to have found common ground on the broad lines of a power-sharing partnership.

Most significantly, this partnership would enable them to disempower Naftali Bennett’s hard-line Jewish Home (16-17), Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu (sinking to 7-10), Kahlon’s new Kulanu (8-9) and Yair Lapid’s Future (plunging to 6-7). It would also reduce the bargaining power of the ultra-religious bloc.

Netanyahu has avowed an ambition to reduce Israel’s fragmented political scene to major blocs.

The backdoor negotiations between the prime minister and opposition leader are not face-to-face, but through a mutually trusted go-between, revealed here by debkafile as the Labor leader’s brother, Brig.-Gen (res.) Michael Herzog.

...

From May 2009 to March 2010, M. Herzog acted as special envoy in the efforts of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak to resuscitate peace negotiations with the Palestinians. The prime minister also attached him to his personal envoy Yitzak Molcho with the US team that held talks with Syria from December 2010 until the onset of the civil war in March 2011.

...

Towards the end of last year, Netanyahu, who was then building up to calling a snap election, again added Mike Herzog as a secret envoy to Molcho’s quiet contacts with the Americans and Palestinians. He was also involved in diplomacy on behalf of the prime minister on other strategic matters, including the Iranian nuclear issue.

Read the whole thing.  It's all too plausible, and why no one on the Right should vote for Likud.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Knesset elections 2015, Labor party, Likud party, Michael Herzog, Tzipi Livni, Yitzchak Herzog

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:43 AM