Opposer says Netanyahu will use “state of emergency”

O israeli center-left opponent Yair Golan, leader of the Democratic coalition, today warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not hesitate to plunge the country into a “state of emergency” with another war to delay the change of government.

“Warning: Netanyahu will not hesitate to lead Israel to an escalation of security and to a state of emergency to delay the change of government, disregarding dictatorially the will of the Israeli electorate,” Golan stated in a video statement on the X network.

During his speech, the leader of the Democrats warned that Israel’s security faces a “serious and imminent” danger of military escalation, and called for an agreement as soon as possible to form a government that would remove the current Prime Minister following the legislative elections held last Tuesday.

The Democrats are one of the four Zionist base opposition forces in the so-called bloc of change, which needs the support of the Arab parties to achieve absolute majority in parliament, a goal also failed by the Likud (from Netanyahu and which won the elections), even with the support of its far-right and ultra-orthodox allies.

The leader of the centre-left coalition, which elected eight deputies, also referred to the last political cycle, marked by the attacks of the Islamist Hamas group on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, where he killed about 1,200 and 251 hostages, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip and other fronts of conflict.

“ After conducting a failed campaign against Hamas and failing to eliminate it, after deliberately and cynically sabotaging the release of the hostages and having provoked — and continuing to provoke — governmental chaos throughout the West Bank, it becomes absolutely clear that Netanyahu is not up to the task,” accused the leader of the Democratic Alliance, which resulted from the merger of the Labour Party with Meretz.

On Saturday, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with US President Donald Trump, according to the portal Axios and The Wall Street Journal, about the possibility of Israel and the United States resuming the bombings against Iran after the joint offensive launched on February 28.

Axios reported that the Israeli leader is pressing Trump to resume the attacks against the Islamic Republic immediately after the mid-term elections to the US Congress, which take place on Tuesday, a week after the laws in Israel.

As the threat of military confrontation looms, Iran and the United States continue their diplomatic work after Tehran has sent a delegation to Doha this weekend.

Iran today that, if the United States accepts its conditions, it can launch a plan to reopen the Ormuz Strait to maritime traffic in two days and start more advanced negotiations for the end of the war.

Prior to the legislature, Netanyahu sought to trigger a military operation against Iran but the chief of the armed forces, Eyal Zamir, refused, according to reports issued by the Israeli and American press, that the head of the government refuted.

Within days of the vote, the Prime Minister released an image generated by artificial intelligence, showing a nuclear explosion in Tel Aviv, accompanied by a warning about the risk of a “second Holocaust” by Iran.

The opposition parties in Israel meet on Tuesday to discuss the construction of an alternative government to the bloc of the current Prime Minister, after having reached consensus on the name of Gadi Eisenkot to lead the next executive.

The appointment of the meeting, in a hotel in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, was revealed today by Yashar!, Eisenkot's party, which was second in the vote, with 21 deputies, and by the leader of Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our House), Avigdor Lieberman, who elected seven candidates.

Former Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs and placed on the right in the opposition, Lieberman today closed speculation about the consensus around former General Gadi Eisenkot to lead the next government in Israel, but the debate on the necessary political support remains open.

The question is Lieberman's refusal to support the Arab parties to seek a way out of the political labyrinth created after the elections, in which neither the pro-government bloc nor the anti-Netanyahu achieved a majority of 61 seats to control the Israeli parliament (Knesset).

The two Arab formations, Lista Conjunto and Ra’am, play a potentially decisive role and met today in Nazareth, in the north of the country, to coordinate their positions, before the consultations of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, to appoint a candidate to form the next government.

The focus in the coming days will be on the Israeli President and the invitation he will address to a candidate, being open if he will do so to Netanyahu, as leader of the most voted party but with remote chances of receiving approval in the Knesset, or Eisenkot, ahead of an opposition coalition but with no known basis of parliamentary viability.

Isaac Herzog will begin on Wednesday consultations with the parties that have obtained fewer seats and the next day will meet with the other forces.

Once a candidate is appointed, the candidate will have 28 days to negotiate with potential coalition partners, after which he may request an extension of another 14.

If the candidate is unable to form a coalition, the decision returns to the President, who may choose another name to try again to train an executive for 28 days without possibility of extension.