Big news today from Israel: Kadima will leave the coalition. Big news? In May 2012, Kadima decided to join the Israeli coalition government. Some 70 days later, the honeymoon is already over. Even without Kadima, Netanyahu’s cabinet continues to control 66 parliamentarians in the 120-seat Knesset, nothing to get worried about.
Since Netanyahu’s win in the 2009 election, the Israeli prime minister has continued to be an obstacle to peace, despite a fancy speech to Congress in May 2011. The Israeli settlement policy remains as unconvincing as ever. But one cannot say that Netanyahu’s government has been unstable. Therefore, the Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz, as impatient as Netanyahu to be in a position of power, joined a coalition full of not very recommendable politicians.
The split came after Prime Minister Netanyahu submitted a proposal to resolve the dispute over the military draft reform. The ultra-Orthodox, many of whom are settlers in disputed territories that should become Palestinian land after a peace deal, need military protection. At the same time, they benefit from a loophole which allows them not to be drafted as long as they are religious students. Finally, in February 2012, the Israeli High Court of Justice came to the conclusion that this was inacceptable and that the law should be amended by August 2012.
The Likud compromise presented by Netanyahu was inacceptable to Kadima to the point that 25 of the party’s members of parliament voted to leave the coalition and only 3 were in favor to stay on in the government.
Kadima requested that Haredim and Arab Israelis up to age 23 be drafted; at present, only “ordinary” Israelis are drafted at age 18. The new Likud proposal still does not implement a compulsory draft for everyone to age 23, obviously because Likud is governing together with the ultra-Orthodox party Shas and the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu.
The vote on the new bill to draft religious students into the army should take place on July 19, 2012. Today, Kadima’s leader Shaul Mofaz has formally announced that his party will withdraw from the coalition government. Will this move trigger early elections?
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Article added on July 17, 2012 at 19:32 Swiss time
