Benyamin Netanyahu failed to form a new Israeli Government. Now his rival, Yair Lapid, gets a chance. I hope he succeeds. The country has suffered while Netanyahu did everything to remain in power (and out of prison) for a long time. Now he is focusing his attention on foiling Lapid. Of course, doing so means he is still ignoring most of the needs of the entire country. Foiling Lapid would mean another election. That’s something almost nobody really wants.
Netanyahu has made noises about returning to a system where the prime minister is elected directly. separate from the Knesset elections. Those of us with longer memories remember when he tried that before. The result was a solid victory for him as Prime Minister (which might happen again, now) but his political party lost so many seats that he really was unable to govern effectively (not that he is doing so at present) and the party quickly returned to the older format. The last compromise/coalition government he formed ended up with 36 ministers. Obviously, such a government is NOT an effective body. Studies in government have long ago shown that when the number of ministers in the cabinet exceeds 20 the cabinet begins to become less effective. At 36, it is certain that the cabinet is merely a rubber stamp for the decisions of the prime Minister. That may suit him, but it surely is not good for the rest of us.
Wetherhorn 