Israel’s recent political roller-coaster ride came to a surprising halt yesterday with Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu on top — and saying he’s now poised to make the “tough decisions” facing the country.
Netanyahu addressed the press alongside his newest coalition partner and former nemesis, Shaul Mofaz — leader of Kadima, currently the largest party in the Knesset. And, while Bibi didn’t mention Iran specifically, no one should think Israel has shelved its military plans.
Vice President Joe Biden made that clear yesterday, as he took the trouble to blame the Bush administration for not stopping Iran’s nuclear-weapon push.
The Iranian-born, Farsi-speaking Mofaz — a former army chief of staff and defense minister — joins Netanyahu’s government as minister without portfolio. This likely strengthens the Iran hawks among Jerusalem’s decision-makers.
To be sure, Mofaz’s didn’t join the government because of Iran, but to avoid a more personal threat.
Last week, Netanyahu threw Israeli political circles into a tizzy by calling for an early election this fall, instead of the previously planned November 2013. Polls predicted a crushing defeat for the hybrid left-right Kadima — a personal embarrassment for Mofaz, who’d just taken over party chief.
Sensing an opening, Netanyahu then made Mofaz an offer he couldn’t refuse.
With Kadima’s 28 seats, the ruling coalition now has the support of 94 out of 120 Knesset members — a coalition that can easily last until the election, now again set for late next year. It could also move to pass a budget and address public anger over rules that privilege the ultra-Orthodox to avoid military service and other social duties.
Mofaz now also has a chance to try his hands in renewing talks with the Palestinians, as he’s advocated for years. (Good luck: Diplomats tell me that the new French president, Francois Hollande, is ready to support Palestinian UN membership — forcing an American veto, infuriating Israel and derailing any hope for serious negotiations anytime soon.)
But when Mofaz spoke yesterday of “a moment in the life of a nation when it must take fateful decisions,” he probably did mean Iran.
Netanyahu and his defense minister, Ehud Barak, have long deemed Tehran’s nuclear dash the most crucial issue facing Israel. With Mofaz, the inner Cabinet that makes decisions on that front now includes nine members, three of them former army chiefs of staff.
This deftly deflates the recent unprecedented assault on Netanyahu’s ability to make rational decisions on Iran. A host of experienced high-level ex-security officials, led by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, had gone public with criticism — leading decision-makers in Washington and Europe (and likely in Tehran, too) to doubt that Netanyahu had the domestic support needed to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
But yesterday, surrounded by men with solid security credentials and boasting one of the largest coalitions in Israel’s history, Bibi came out swinging.
“They call me messianic,” he said derisively about his out-of-a-job critics, vowing that along with his coalition partners — all elected officials — he’d make “responsible” decisions on Iran.
No one should expect an Israeli attack “tomorrow morning,” as Barak said recently. To start with, Netanyahu is waiting (without much hope) for the results of an American-backed negotiation with the mullahs, scheduled to resume in Baghdad next week.
But as Biden, scrambling to catch up, acknowledged while addressing Jewish leaders yesterday, “The window has not closed in terms of the Israelis if they choose to act on their own militarily.”
In fact, that window opened wider yesterday. Even if Israel opts to wait until after the US election in November, speculation about Netanyahu’s next move is bound to rattle markets and influence global decision-makers all summer and into the fall.
And that’s bound to seep into this country’s politics, too.