Alwaght- The Israeli cabinet like its predecessors could not hold for a full term and is collapsing a year after its formation, perpetuating the political stalemate in the occupied territories. Prime Minister Neftali Bennett and his ally and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have agreed to dissolve the parliament and hold snap elections. The collapse of the Israeli government showed that the political situation in the occupied territories is far from stable yet. To discuss the circumstances, Alwaght talked to Majid Safataj, an Iranian expert of West Asian affairs.
Alwaght: The Israeli cabinet has once again collapsed and Tel Aviv is heading to a new snap election. How likely is formation of a new government and departure from the crisis after the vote?
Safataj: Despite the belief that the Israelis have a united stance and path towards their interests, this is not true. They have a weak spot that has been with them since the beginning and it would lead to collapse of the Israeli regime. This weakness, which shows itself gradually, is pursuit of self-interests. There is a Quranic verse which says "you may think your enemy is united, firm, and powerful, but they are actually scattered". Israel is the real example of this verse. Although they may hold united stance in some areas, they are divided in areas where there is no news spotlight, and what causes these differences is the pursuit of personal interests of them. If we consider Israel a cone, from its base to its top where there are news spotlight, the Israelis look united but when we look behind the scenes, we can see their disunity and dispersal and the reason is that they follow personal interests and always move in this path.
For three decades, the Israelis have not managed to achieve unity and cohesion among themselves and to be able to form a united cabinet, and the conflict of interests has not allowed such an achievement. Some Israeli officials themselves have made it clear that what causes the collapse of Israel is not Iran, but the Israelis themselves. Most Israeli officials have corruption cases, some of whom have been convicted and some others are struggling. This makes the Israeli parties less united despite their large number. Until a couple of years ago, only the Likud and Labor parties had the power, with political power being exchanged between them. But now there are many parties that hold part of the power structure, and this prevents a united and powerful government, not even one that could finish parliament term.
Even now that the government collapsed and the parliament was dissolved, there should not be an expectation of a strong coalition to form a new government after the elections. The future cabinet would be even more fragile than before. The Israeli regime is now on the verge of collapse, and the fact that the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said that the Israeli regime will not see the next 25 years is happening, and this regime is collapsing fast, and it is likely to collapse even sooner. Therefore, the political instability in Tel Aviv will continue and the differences will intensify, and the upcoming elections cannot settle the current crisis.
Alwaght: What's driving Israeli cabinet crisis?
Safataj: As I said, the pursuit of personal interests of the Israelis is the main reason for the collapse of their cabinets. When the Israelis sit side by side in the cabinet, then the existence of Israel no longer makes sense, and the only thing that matters is the personal interests of the political leaders mainly the securing of interests and access to more seats in parliament against rival parties. They are even inclined to reach out to some Arab parties, to which they did not give attention in the past, inside the occupied territories, in order to form a coalition cabinet and tip the scales against their rival. But this coalition is fragile, too, and disintegrates after a while, because all the politicians look for more shares, and this individual ambitions lead to the fall of the cabinets after a few months. This, in turn, causes snap elections and coalition-making a repetitive process.
Alwaght: With Bennett cabinet collapsing, it is said that Netanyahu is preparing to retake the post. Will snap elections bring him back?
Safataj: It is natural that Netanyahu backs the government fall and parliament dissolution because if he returns to power and forms a cabinet, his corruption cases and trials will be suspended. Given the current circumstances in Israel, it is possible that Netanyahu will return to power, and if that happens, Israel's collapse will be accelerated. Now the Israelis are caught in a quagmire of seeking shares in the power, and the more they struggle, the deeper they sink. Concerning, last year he failed to form a coalition and his rivals took the power from him. He constantly worked against the new government and made moves both at social and political levels. With the collapse of the government, Israel is back to square one now. Netanyahu pursues Iranophobia. This is the weakness of the Israelis and in its provocation Netanyahu has been successful, as the Israelis are seriously afraid of Iran-led Axis of Resistance. Netanyahu can win more votes in the new election than past one, and by running a wave of Iranophobia, he is trying to draw the attention of the Israelis to the security threats they face, thereby drawing Israeli public opinion to himself. Netanyahu and his Likud party, as well as other parties allied with them, are seeking power in the next cabinet, and if a coalition is formed, the same political instability is unavoidable, and the new coalition may continue for several months, but after a while, divisions and defections emerge and crisis reembraces the Israeli politics.
Alwaght: What do the elections and back-to-back government collapses signal?
Safataj: Law amendments in any country are done periodically anyway, and in the Israeli regime there may be a belief that the source of all domestic political crises or disputes among the parties is the law of political parties. But the law cannot be the case. Although laws may have a few effects on these disputes over cabinet formation, they are not that so big for us to link all crises to them. The bottom line is that none of the Israeli leaders are willing to form a coalition as they are all influenced by pursuit of personal power interests, and therefore law problems are not highly effective. Even if they amend the laws, this regime will still face internal challenges, and the differences will continue, accelerating its collapse.
Alwaght: How do you see the outlook for the Israeli political developments?
Safataj: I think that the Israeli political situation would change for worse and reverse migration would increase. Now, the Israeli authorities prevent reverse migration and do not allow the Jews to return to their original countries. But in the future, they cannot block the migration as its waves would widen. Additionally, the protests against the corruption of the ruling class and political leaders would keep going. The corruption would create deeper layers within the ruling elites. I think that Israel's future is dark and the Israelis even accelerate collapse of this regime with their own hands.
