What's next for Netanyahu?
Although Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition, it doesn't mean he's out of the game just yet.
“Netanyahu failed again,” tweeted Yair Lapid, number two on the Blue and White party list. “It’s already a pattern.”
That was the evening of Oct. 21, just a few minutes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was returning his mandate to form a new government to President Reuven Rivlin. Lapid’s tweet reflected a very real situation. Netanyahu had just failed to form a government for the second consecutive time. It was a serious blow to his image as well. For the first time in a decade, the mandate would be held by someone other than Netanyahu. In other words, the power to form a government had just slipped from his hands.
Yet, his rival Benny Gantz’s accomplishments at the helm of Blue and White remain only symbolic, at least for now. Gantz might receive the government mandate, but within the allotted 28 days he has no real chance of forming a “broad, liberal, Zionist government,” as he envisioned, not if it means with the Likud but without Netanyahu. There will certainly be negotiations between the competing sides, but it is unlikely that the situation will change.
Another option on Blue and White's desk is an outline for a minority government with the support of the Arab Joint List from outside the coalition and the abstention of Yisrael Beitenu. In fact, this seems to be the only option Gantz has for assembling a government with himself at its head. Will it happen? Not likely.
