The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict #98: Trivia: How Many Elections Can A Country Hold In One Year?
Good morning, class! Welcome back for another day of learning. Let's get started.?
Election #1: April 2019??
In the elections held in April 2019, the Likud and “Blue and White ” factions won 35 mandates each, representing approximately 26% of the voters' votes each, respectively. At first, it seemed to everyone that Benjamin Netanyahu had won and that he would form his fifth government sooner or later, which would win the confidence of the elected Knesset . But the optimistic forecast turned out to be a colossal failure. Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition during the 28 days provided by law, nor after receiving additional time extensions from the President, Reuven Rivlin .
As a result, according to the law, Netanyahu 's mandate to form the government expired. Towards this date, at the initiative of the Likud , the Knesset began to discuss a bill to trigger early elections, ordering the holding of new elections, to prevent Benny Gantz from trying to form a government.
Again, the State of Israel entered another election cycle that year , meaning that in Israel , there were two election cycles in 5 months .
Election #2: September 2019???
In the elections held in September, the “Blue and White ” faction won a one-seat advantage over the Likud party. Despite this advantage, President Reuven Rivlin gave Benjamin Netanyahu the mandate to form the government after receiving the highest number of Knesset members' recommendations to form a coalition. However, despite receiving the mandate, Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government during the 28 days provided by law and after receiving an extension. Therefore, the day before the mandate expired, Benjamin Netanyahu returned it to the president, who gave it to Benny Gantz . When the Likud party failed to form a coalition, it raised a blocking bloc to prevent Benny Gantz from establishing a government, and their efforts were successful. The Likud party members did everything to fail Benny Gantz , and he failed.?
In December 2019, the mandate to form a coalition was about to expire. To avoid returning the mandate to the president, who would set the election date, the Knesset wanted to set the date for the next elections, the third one, in less than one year. As a result, on the eve of the mandate's expiration, the Knesset enacted a law to dissolve the Knesset and set the elections to the week before the holiday of Purim in March 2020.
Election #3: March 2020??
In March 2020, the elections for the twenty-third Knesset took place, the third as part of this political crisis. In this Knesset election , the Likud won an advantage of three mandates over the “Blue and White ” faction.
What Is Recommended to Say The Third Time: Ice Cream, or I Scream?
Three days after the elections, the Yisrael Beiteinu party called for passing a law under which a Knesset member indicted for crimes could not receive the mandate to form the government and under which a prime minister could not serve more than two terms. A wave of demonstrations against the possibility of assigning the job of forming the government to a member of the Knesset who had been indicted for crimes led to 61 members of the Knesset recommending Benny Gantz , who won fewer mandates than Benjamin Netanyahu . Therefore, President Reuven Rivlin gave him the mandate to form the government.
Never-Ending Loop
Again, like a broken record, negotiations began to form a coalition. However, simultaneously with these negotiations, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, and the State of Israel , like most countries of the world, declared a national medical emergency. Therefore, the “Blue and White ” faction negotiated with the Likud party to establish a unified government.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to several waves of lockdowns and social isolation for almost two years. While the COVID-19 virus killed nearly 10,000 Israelis , the Israeli government dragged over a million citizens into the cycle of unemployment due to its failure to manage the most significant health crisis in the history of the country.
Please Help Us Find the Israeli Opposition to the Government! Last Seen in 1992
The Israeli public , which hoped for a change and voted for it, saw this hope crash due to an external factor - the COVID-19 pandemic . No opposition among the Knesset members was visible on the horizon, prompting civil protests. One of the leading groups, the "Black Flags Protest ," opposed the way the caretaker government, still led by Benjamin Netanyahu , managed Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic . They also opposed forming a government with the Likud party, which they accused of pressuring for a coalition with Benny Gantz by exploiting public fear of the global epidemic.
领英推荐
As a result, the demonstrations grew to hundreds of thousands who protested under the COVID-19 restrictions of mass gatherings by protesting along main roads and crossroads across the country. The Israeli public protests showed the coalition that they opposed how the government managed the COVID-19 crisis , were dissatisfied with the government's financial solutions to the working class, and demanded the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu due to the indictment against him .
A Country in Deadlock: the Israeli Government Dissolves the Knesset Again.
The basic law of the Knesset sets the deadline for the approval of the budget law. If the state budget is not approved by this date, the Knesset is seen as having decided on its dissolution. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis and the political chaos in the State of Israel , the Israeli public was once again asked to go to the polls. Male ego power struggles drove this chaos. Neither side was willing to compromise to take care of the country's citizens instead of their own personal interests, and those facing indictments for crimes continued to grasp the horns of the altar at any cost.
How Many Times Does One Person Have To Fail The Test Before People Stop Voting For Him?
Election #4: March 2021?
The fourth elections were held in March 2021 . Please look surprised when I tell you that the Likud party received the highest number of mandates, which was 30, and represented 24% of the voters' votes, a decrease of 2% compared to the previous elections. Once again, the president of the country, Reuven Rivlin , gave the mandate to form the government to Benjamin Netanyahu , but again he failed. About two minutes before the automatic expiration date of the mandate at midnight, Netanyahu informed the president that he had failed to form a government. Therefore, President Reuven Rivlin gave the mandate the next day to Yair Lapid , who finally established a government.
Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett established a government that included a rotation between them in the position of Prime Minister, with Naftali Bennett serving as the first Prime Minister. During the negotiations to form the government, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett displayed leadership talent and high management skills when they didn’t let the noise in the background fail them. As a last resort to disrupt Lapid and Bennett 's negotiations to form a government, Benjamin Netanyahu initiated a military operation in the Gaza Strip , Operation Guardian of the Walls .?
Instead of leading a conciliatory policy during Ramadan , Benjamin Netanyahu 's government chose to provoke the Arab public with the support of extreme right-wing Knesset members. As a result, the Palestinian riots escalated, and Hamas launched missiles at the settlements in the Gaza Envelope . Any delicate security situation served the right-wing political side, as they could receive strong public support for a military response that would make the public numb to anything else. Operation Guardian of the Walls was initiated as a response to a wave of Palestinian riots and missiles fired at the settlements in the Gaza Envelope from the Gaza Strip . The question is, could this have been prevented?
Curious to know who won the fifth election? Join our class tomorrow.
That's all for today, class. We'll continue tomorrow.
Take care.