Yedhioth Ahronoth is going through some pretty tough times. What can you do? After having warned repeatedly that the current coalition couldn't possibly survive, it looks like the coalition has made it safely to its summer hiatus and there are no real threats of collapse on the horizon. Even the contentious peace talks appear to be taking the kind of shape that, for now, even Habayit Hayehudi, Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid can live with. In many respects, this is thanks to the idea of holding a referendum: It will make it easier for the side that loses the vote to accept the final decision, because it will have been made by the people rather than by ministers who may or may have not been promised some kind of perk in exchange for their vote (as has happened in the past).
Under these circumstances, the editors of Yedioth Ahronoth's weekend supplement didn't have any choice but to start the week by conceding that "considering the hand he was dealt, the prime minister is entering the summer hiatus in pretty good shape." Wait, what does that mean, considering the hand he "was dealt"? The cards are still the same cards. But Yedioth Ahronoth has spent the last several months explaining to their readers that with these cards, the coalition will never survive.
Well, as it turns out, contrary to Yedioth Ahronoth's forecast, the government is not about to collapse.
This coalition, as Yedioth Ahronoth is now admitting, is heading into peace negotiations in a fairly good position: No moratorium has been declared on settlement construction; contrary to doomsday forecasts, there is no agreement on a retreat to the 1967 borders; and the prisoners Israel plans to release are mostly rather elderly.
Meanwhile, this coalition boasts quite a few impressive achievements: It passed a law requiring ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the military -- an issue that no previous government was willing to touch. The haredi MKs reacted dramatically, putting on a show and tearing their clothing in mourning, but they, too, know that many haredi leaders were actually rooting for this law to pass.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has achieved enough accomplishments to make him the only viable candidate for prime minister in the latest polls by a large margin of several dozen percentage points. Maybe it is because he managed to convince the Arab world to impose sanctions on Iran, or that he completely stopped the infiltration of foreigners into Israel, or the absence of terror attacks, or the relative calm in the south, or Israel's admirable restraint in the face of turmoil in Syria and Egypt, or the success of the Israeli economy in the midst of a global crisis, or the lowest unemployment rate in the last 30 years, or the various reforms that have freed up some cash for Israel's citizens (the cellphone reform, free day care from age 3, free dental care for children).
All these achievements are making Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon (Noni) Mozes and his kingdom very nervous. They were convinced that they were about to topple the government. The way things look now, life at Yedioth Ahronoth is not easy.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו