The inability of Israeli elections to produce a coalition beyond Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or anyone else, is causing “an erosion of trust” in the country’s democratic process, according to former Amb. Ido Aharoni on Newsmax TV.
“Netanyahu cannot form a coalition, but no one else can form a coalition,” the New York University professor of International Relations told Wednesday’s “National Report.”
“There is a significant erosion in the trust that Israelis have in their own political system. The system is highly fragmented. There are 13 political parties that pass the threshold. You try to imagine your House of Representatives with 13 different parties.
“That’s what we’re looking at right now, so the society is highly fragmented and people are disillusioned with the political system. It’s a very dangerous place to be in as a democracy.”
Regardless of former President Donald Trump or new President Joe Biden, the U.S.-Israel relations remain strong, which will help Israel through its inability to unite in its electoral process.
“Israel and the United States are enjoying an unprecedented degree of intimacy when you’re looking at international relation,” Aharoni told co-host Emma Rechenberg. “I don’t think that the United States has a more loyal ally than Israel anywhere in the world, and so I don’t see this changing under any president or under any prime minister in Israel.”
Both Prime Minister Netanyahu and sworn political rivals determined to depose him lack a clear path to a governing coalition with about 90% of the vote counted by Wednesday morning.
Netanyahu’s Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox and ultra-right allies fell short of a 61-seat majority — even if the Yamina party of Netanyahu ally-turned-critic Naftali Bennett were to join a Netanyahu-led government. Bennett has refused to endorse either side.
At the same time, a small Arab party emerged as a potential kingmaker Wednesday morning after the latest count indicated it would cross the threshold to get into parliament. Like Bennett, the head of the Ra’am party, Mansour Abbas, has not ruled out joining either camp.
“We’re not in anyone’s pocket,” Abbas said. “We’re willing to have contact with both of the sides with anyone who is trying to form a government and sees himself as a future prime minister.
“If there’s an offer we will sit, we will talk.”
With key players on both sides ruling out an alliance with Abbas, a fifth election also remained a possibility if neither camp can form a coalition. In that case, Netanyahu would remain a caretaker prime minister while facing a corruption trial and possible confrontation with U.S. President Joe Biden over Iran.
The final tally of the votes cast at regular polling stations was near complete Wednesday, Israeli media said. But even then, much could still change. The elections commission was still counting about 450,000 absentee ballots from voters who cast them outside their home polling place.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizion and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Source: Newmax
