Israel Update for April 2009

David Dolan

Soon after Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition was sworn in the last day of March, cabinet ministers began reviewing previous government policies covering nearly every critical issue facing the country. The tone was quickly set by the new Prime Minister himself. He told the Knesset during his maiden speech that two overriding issues needed to be tackled right away-the growing economic crisis affecting Israel, which is part of the larger worldwide financial meltdown, and the looming Iranian nuclear threat. This came as statistics were released showing many Israelis are losing their jobs as economic activity decreases.

The menacing Iranian threat was rapidly illustrated as Israeli tourists were warned to stay away from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula during the Passover holidays due to intelligence reports that Iranian-backed terror groups were operating in the area, intending to kidnap and kill Israeli visitors. Two days later, Egyptian officials announced they had uncovered a large Iranian-funded terror network in the Sinai working to aid the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile officials in Cairo accused the extremist Iranian regime of plotting to topple the Mubarak government, in coordination with several other regional powers, including Syria. Iran's notorious president later blasted Israel once again at a UN sponsored racism conference in Switzerland which was boycotted by Israel, the United States and several European countries.

The Palestinians held more fruitless unity talks during the month as terror attacks were launched upon Israeli civilians in several places, leaving two Jewish teenagers dead in one incident. A government sanctioned probe of Israeli army conduct during the Gaza conflict earlier this year concluded that no war crimes had been committed. However that did not stop the United Nations from ordering its own investigation. Meanwhile details were unveiled of a daring IDF operation in the battle-scared African country of Sudan designed to halt Iranian weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu Back In Power

After weeks of intense political wrangling, Binyamin Netanyahu was finally sworn in as Prime Minister on April 1 in a ceremony held at the official presidential residence in Jerusalem. Israel's latest coalition government won the support of 69 legislators, a comfortable majority in the 120 member Knesset. However this came after a dramatic last minute revolt was launched inside Netanyahu's own Likud party by former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who threatened to withhold backing for the new six party coalition if the Likud was not granted additional cabinet portfolios.

Shalom's nay saying could have proved disastrous since he has many loyal followers inside the Likud who vowed to follow his lead. Shalom and company were particularly irked that the Labor party, which captured only 13 Knesset seats in the February 10 parliamentary elections compared to the Likud's 27, was offered no less than five cabinet positions, most of them senior posts. Netanyahu responded that the sweet deal was made necessary by Labor's reluctance to join his coalition unless the once dominant party was granted substantial representation in the new coalition alignment.

In the end, Netanyahu solved the cliffhanger by granting Shalom no less than three cabinet titles: the honorary position of Vice Premier, plus Minister for Regional Cooperation (which some noted was fairly spurious since only three regional countries have diplomatic ties with Israel), and Minister for Negev and Galilee Development. However Netanyahu made clear that another politician who was also named Vice Premier-former Armed Forces Chief Moshe Ya'alon, dismissed by Ariel Sharon in 2005 for opposing the then pending Israeli civilian and military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip-would be the one to officially take hold of the government's reigns when the Premier is out of the country.

In all, Netanyahu doled out no less than 30 cabinet ministerial positions, along with seven deputy portfolios, many of them newly created. This meant that nearly half of his legislative backers were somehow positioned around the crowded cabinet table-a fact that opposition politicians condemned as irresponsible and unnecessarily expensive.

Another last minute drama involved the Labor party. Nearly half of its 13 members, none of them offered cabinet positions, threatened to split from the party if leader Ehud Barak joined Netanyahu's coalition government. In the end, the sitting Defense Minister was able to persuade all of them to back his decision to jump on board, explaining he was doing so for "national security" reasons. In other words, he wanted his center-left party to retain its position as a major player in all security issues, and especially to have a significant say in deciding whether or not Israel launches a military offensive against Iran's threatening nuclear program in the coming months or years.

Target Iran

In his maiden speech as Premier given just before midnight on March 31, Binyamin Netanyahu spelled out his main policy aims and concerns. He stated that "these are irregular times" which would necessitate unusual actions. He said Israel "seeks peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world," while also noting that the Jewish state "continues to be threatened by the forces of Islamic extremism."

"Israel is faced with two tests: an economic crisis and a security crisis. The source of both crisis situations is neither our past actions nor past mistakes...but our current actions will determine the results of them."

Netanyahu stated quite emphatically that the Iranian nuclear threat is the greatest challenge facing the country, being no less than an existential one. He vowed to deal decisively with the issue during his time in office, hinting that drastic military action might be necessary if international diplomatic efforts to successfully deal with Iran's nuclear program fail.