"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Careful attention still needs to be given to how Gantz and Yisrael Beiteinu conduct affairs with Joint Arab List

In the first of two concerning articles, it's reported that Benny Gantz's Blue & White party may invite the Arab parties for discussions, now that Benjamin Netanyahu's had to hand back the mandate on forming a government to the president, and it now passes over to Gantz:
Blue and White intends to invite representatives of the Joint Arab List to the coalition negotiations as well, according to Kan Reshet Bet, citing officials close to Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz.

It should be noted that Blue and White emphasizes that members of the party's coalition negotiations team intend to first invite members of the Likud negotiating team for talks, but that afterward, members of all parties will be invited. It is estimated that Gantz will not settle for this invitation, but will try to hold a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu to examine the possibility of joining a unity government.

This will be the first time in some 20 years that members of the Joint List are invited to the coalition talks. However, Kan Reshet Bet noted, MK Gantz does not explicitly guarantee that members of the Joint List will be part of a government headed by him, should one be established.
Doesn't matter. They'll still prove extremely dangerous, and are. It's just like such awful people to be willing to do whatever's possible to form a government solely for the sake of ousting Netanyahu, and implementing potentially damaging policies.

In the second, a member of Avigdor Lieberman's party isn't ruling out cooperating with the Joint Arab List:
MK Oded Forer of Yisrael Beytenu does not rule out his party's cooperation with the Joint Arab List in establishing the next government.

In an interview with Kalman-Lieberman on Reshet Bet, Forer said that "The question we will be asking, and will not stop asking, is what the basic principles of the government are."
A better question is, what are this party's own principles? They sure don't seem like much of anything, that's for sure, and as a result, they can't be trusted either.

If Mendelblit chooses to indict Netanyahu over petty issues, he'll be destroying democracy

Caroline Glick spoke of how the leftist-run prosecution in Israel is utterly obsessed with getting rid of Netanyahu at the expense of democracy:
The ongoing criminal probes against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are reaching their climax. After conducting a marathon four-day pre-indictment hearing for Netanyahu earlier this month, Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit reportedly intends to complete his review of the state prosecution’s cases and decide whether to indict Israel’s longest-serving prime minister by the end of next month. The main charges against Netanyahu relate to his associations with media owners.

For three years, illegal leaks from the investigations have dominated the news. The key question – indeed, just about the only question – that has been endlessly discussed is whether or not Mendelblit will end Netanyahu’s political career by indicting him on corruption charges.

The importance of this question is self-evident. On the one hand, we have a democratically elected leader. On the other hand, we have unelected state prosecutors who wish to oust him from power by indicting him.

For nearly a year, Israeli politics have been in a state of chaos because of the criminal probes. The probes played a central role in the April Knesset elections and arguably were the primary reason that Netanyahu failed to form a coalition despite his electoral victory. Today the probes and Mendelblit’s deliberations are the primary reason that no one can form a government in the wake of last month’s repeat elections. If Israel holds a third election in the coming months, the probes will again be the central issue determining both the result and the ability of whoever wins to form a government. The center-left Blue and White party is using the probes as an excuse to refuse to join a coalition government with Netanyahu.

While the probes’ impact on Netanyahu’s political future is a key question, and on the composition of the next government is certainly a big deal, neither of these issues is the central matter than hangs in the balance as Mendelblit holds his deliberations.

If Israel’s attorney general relies on these probes as a means to end Netanyahu’s career, he will do far more than overthrow a political leader. He will embrace a legal doctrine that rejects the very essence of democracy.
Read the entire item.