Still Standing: PM Netanyahu Appears To Save Coalition, Avert Early Elections

After days of speculation and last-minute political wrangling, the verdict is in: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appears to have saved his governing coalition and prevented early elections. Education Minister Naftali Bennett was widely expected to announce his resignation Monday morning and confirm the pull-out of his Jewish Home party from the coalition, which would have brought down the government as it no longer would have had a majority in parliament. Instead, the minister walked back his demand that he be given the defense portfolio following last week’s resignation of Avigdor Liberman, a position that Netanyahu has since assumed for himself. The shock news has for the time being stabilized the political arena, and comes after dire warnings by the premier that an early vote would have harmed Israel’s security. In a rare prime-time press conference Sunday night, Netanyahu warned that the Jewish state is in the midst of an undisclosed military operation, “and you don’t leave during [such] a campaign, you don’t play with politics.” He again invoked past incidences of a right-wing government being disbanded, including his own in 1999, leading to the election of Labor prime minister’s that subsequently made “dangerous” concessions to the Palestinians culminating in the Second Intifada, a period from 2000-2003 characterized by suicide bombings in Israeli public spaces. Earlier in the day, the cabinet approved a proposal by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon for across-the-board budget cuts totaling $5.9 billion over the next 20 years in order to fund additional pay for police officers and prison guards, and, among other things, to provide aid to Israeli communities along the Gaza Strip border. The last apparent hurdle for Netanyahu is a December 2 deadline to pass contentious legislation to draft ultra-Orthodox students into the military, a move opposed by his two other coalition partners. However, given the circumstances it is increasingly probable that a compromise will be reached, especially when considering that both Shas and United Torah Judaism currently are not polling well. It would seem, then, that Netanyahu has pulled the proverbial rabbit out of his hat, defying the odds and reinforcing his status as Israel’s uncontested leader. At least for now…