Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being dragged in two opposite directions - yet seems to be protesting against both. Binyamin Netanyahu told him yesterday that he accepts Sharon's offer to become Foreign Minister, but only on condition that early elections are held sometime in the next few months. Sharon responded this afternoon by saying that it would be "irresponsible" to bring the country to new elections at this point.
Absent a desire for new elections, Sharon's next move should ostensibly be to invite the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party into the government. After all, NUYB's 7 Knesset seats would give Sharon a fairly stable 62-seat coalition and a majority of the Knesset. In light of this, Sharon's response to party leader Avigdor Lieberman was somewhat surprising. One of Lieberman's main demands is that Sharon promise to form a right-wing government after the next election as well. "If he plans to bring Labor into the government afterwards, and he needs now us only to help get him through this troublesome period, then we might as well not join at all," Lieberman said today. Sharon responded in a most contrary fashion by promising to continue his long-time efforts to form national unity governments, including after the coming elections. "This country needs unity," said the Prime Minister.
Lieberman, and others on the right, feel that pushing off the elections - currently scheduled for late October 2003 - will merely lengthen the divisive election campaign. This school of thought holds that the country cannot afford this scenario, from many standpoints, including the threat of war in Iraq.
In sum, National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu does not seem to be on its way into the government, yet Sharon is not interested in early elections. This leaves him with a most unrealistic option of running the country with a minority government of 55 seats. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, the Meretz, Shinui, and Arab parties filed no-confidence motions against the Sharon government in the Knesset this afternoon, which, as expected, did not pass. The National Union-Israel Beiteinu party did not support the motions. Following the votes, Sha'ul Mofaz was sworn in as Israel's Defense Minister. His swearing-in was interrupted by Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, who accused him of killing children and was promptly thrown out of the plenum by Speaker Avraham Burg.
Labor surprised most observers by announcing that it would submit a no-confidence motion because of the increasing poverty (see below) - even though Labor was a senior partner in the government during the period in question. Ex-Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was widely criticized in the Knesset for his scathing remarks against Prime Minister Sharon and the government today. "Where were you until now?" bitingly asked MK David Levy, while Deputy Minister Gideon Ezra said, "After the warm relations Ben-Eliezer and Sharon enjoyed over the past 20 months, one must really be a master of flip-flops to give a speech like he [Ben-Eliezer] gave today." Minister Danny Naveh said, "I was embarrassed for you, Fuad [Ben-Eliezer's nickname]. I don't think you believed in most of what you said… When your speechwriters give you a speech, it's a good idea to look at it beforehand and see if you really believe in what they have written for you to say."
Absent a desire for new elections, Sharon's next move should ostensibly be to invite the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party into the government. After all, NUYB's 7 Knesset seats would give Sharon a fairly stable 62-seat coalition and a majority of the Knesset. In light of this, Sharon's response to party leader Avigdor Lieberman was somewhat surprising. One of Lieberman's main demands is that Sharon promise to form a right-wing government after the next election as well. "If he plans to bring Labor into the government afterwards, and he needs now us only to help get him through this troublesome period, then we might as well not join at all," Lieberman said today. Sharon responded in a most contrary fashion by promising to continue his long-time efforts to form national unity governments, including after the coming elections. "This country needs unity," said the Prime Minister.
Lieberman, and others on the right, feel that pushing off the elections - currently scheduled for late October 2003 - will merely lengthen the divisive election campaign. This school of thought holds that the country cannot afford this scenario, from many standpoints, including the threat of war in Iraq.
In sum, National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu does not seem to be on its way into the government, yet Sharon is not interested in early elections. This leaves him with a most unrealistic option of running the country with a minority government of 55 seats. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, the Meretz, Shinui, and Arab parties filed no-confidence motions against the Sharon government in the Knesset this afternoon, which, as expected, did not pass. The National Union-Israel Beiteinu party did not support the motions. Following the votes, Sha'ul Mofaz was sworn in as Israel's Defense Minister. His swearing-in was interrupted by Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, who accused him of killing children and was promptly thrown out of the plenum by Speaker Avraham Burg.
Labor surprised most observers by announcing that it would submit a no-confidence motion because of the increasing poverty (see below) - even though Labor was a senior partner in the government during the period in question. Ex-Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was widely criticized in the Knesset for his scathing remarks against Prime Minister Sharon and the government today. "Where were you until now?" bitingly asked MK David Levy, while Deputy Minister Gideon Ezra said, "After the warm relations Ben-Eliezer and Sharon enjoyed over the past 20 months, one must really be a master of flip-flops to give a speech like he [Ben-Eliezer] gave today." Minister Danny Naveh said, "I was embarrassed for you, Fuad [Ben-Eliezer's nickname]. I don't think you believed in most of what you said… When your speechwriters give you a speech, it's a good idea to look at it beforehand and see if you really believe in what they have written for you to say."