Netanyahu, Gantz must return to Cairo 2016

The results from Israel’s third elections greatly resemble the results from the previous two rounds. Still, there are two major differences. The first is the coronavirus effect. The second is a growing consensus that Israel cannot afford a fourth election round.

With so many people quarantined and not knowing when COVID-19 will disappear, fixing a date for new elections seems impossible. That could mean that a fourth round would be deferred for too long. Also, the new financial needs brought about by the coronavirus crisis cannot be provided for without a budget. Because Israel's governments have been interim ones, the country has lacked an approved state budget for over a year now.

For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally, any arrangement that may keep him in his job — including a few more months in an interim government — is better than the alternative. Netanyahu had been seeing everything through one prism — the date when his trial was set to begin. Although it had been scheduled to start March 17, it was postponed until May 24 following the decision by acting Justice Minister Amir Ohana on March 15 to reduce all courts activities due to the coronavirus. Whenever the trial begins, Netanyahu is convinced that entering the court as prime minister would be better for him (though I doubt this theory) than doing so as a has-been. Thus, the interests of the State of Israel and its prime minister are mutually exclusive.

Matters are less clear for Blue and White leader Benny Ganz, who vowed to prevent a fourth round of elections, but at the same time finds it very difficult to form a government involving the Arab Joint List party (dissidents in his own party and in his center-left bloc reject this possibility).