Sunday's main news programs ran reports that "the prime minister will meet with the finance minister Monday." No other nation in the world would see something like that as newsworthy. But the meeting shows that the two sides are making one last effort to pick up the pieces. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid have admitted that "this cannot go on," and that is true. If they really intend to fix things, they should postpone government subjects to the second hour of the conversation, and devote the first hour to discussing whether they are actually about to trust one another. Current facts show otherwise: The haredim, party leaders Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Yakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), confirmed that they had been contacted to see if they would take part in forming an alternative coalition without Netanyahu. They say that Netanyahu also spoke with them regarding the possibility of forming a government without Lapid. The finance minister said the alternative coalition talks were "nonsense," but even Shas member Eli Yishai said he heard word of it throughout the Knesset halls. If Netanyahu and Lapid want to hold on to the current government and not have an end-all standoff and be sucked into early elections, then they will have to accept a series of concessions. With a bit of good will, the problems are solvable. The Jewish state bill, pushed by Zeev Elkin, Yair Levin, Ayelet Shaked and Robert Ilatov spells trouble for Israel and the world. But Netanyahu's version is seen as reasonable by all parties. So there is a way for that to work. Lapid's zero percent value-added tax law was approved by the government. The Likud voted in favor it, and it cannot escape its responsibility to it now. But Lapid has to be more forthcoming. It will not be the end of the world if zero percent, which will not solve the housing problem for young couples anyway, becomes four or maybe five percent; that way everyone can say they got something. Obviously there are reasonable solutions here. But what is not clear is whether there is much desire to prevent early elections.
The health system reform should be postponed by a year so that the Yesh Atid party can prove to the Likud that their partnership is real. The finance minister will have to put a stop to his crusade against the defense budget. The Israel Defense Forces needs to move to the Negev desert, and the Finance Ministry is currently not fulfilling its obligations on the matter, and even more so is childishly leaking information to be used against the defense budget. The Finance Ministry is playing with fire; it has forgotten that the IDF is fighting on our side.
