Arnon Grunberg

Press

Stability

On the new government – Harel in Haaretz:

‘This is not just about the question of returning this body or the Palestinian fear of a possible Israeli change to the status quo on the Temple Mount, but also about Bezalel Smotrich’s declared intention of expanding settlements and legalizing outposts. The violence is already at a high level, and things could heat up even more with the approach of the next Ramadan in the spring. And any tension in Jerusalem could also affect the stability of the normalization agreements. The right can tout all it wants the Gulf States’ indifference to the Palestinians’ fate. If there is intensive, prolonged friction, especially for religious reasons, it will undermine the stability of their accords with Israel, as well as Israel’s accords with Jordan and Egypt.’

(…)

‘Netanyahu has always faced the challenge of explaining to the right-wing party leaders, his partners, the broader considerations for his policies, which he generally is not keen to disclose in public. The question is to what extent he will be able to impress this broader context upon Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who live in a very narrow universe, who rarely travel outside the country and probably don’t closely follow the English-language press.
Then there are the growing tensions with American Jewry. The new government is already on a collision course with the Reform and Conservative movements, because of the prayer arrangements at the Western Wall and the grandparent clause in the Law of Return. The anti-Reform sentiment is not confined to the Haredi ministers; top Likud figures openly express the same opinions.
Netanyahu’s circle is right about one thing: The Biden administration does not view the Palestinian problem as a major issue on the world agenda. But the United States still does not want to see this subject erupt anew and requires close daily management and attention, to the point that it would detract from the attention that could be devoted to more urgent matters like the competition with China and the war in Ukraine.
Does Netanyahu have total control over the next government? As has been previously noted here, Washington is unsure whether the incoming prime minister is really the pilot of this plane or just the co-pilot.’

Read the article here.

The pilots are more dangerous than the co-pilot, both co-pilot or no co-polit, he is the enabler.

Yes, Biden doesn’t want any headlines about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the EU has the same opinion.

They are not interested in a solution, but they don’t want anymore grizzly pictures, just the status quo, as silent as possible.

Harel believes that the new government, despite Netanyahu, will upend the status quo.

All comes down to the question: can Netanyahu domesticate his partners?

discuss on facebook