In some ways, Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabai's resignation from the government on Friday was even more worrying than the ill-advised unseating of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon the previous week. Ya'alon was caught in a struggle with the right-wing members of the coalition who wanted him out, and he was hurt in the political battle. Gabai was not involved. Ya'alon was kicked out. Gabai left. There is a significant problem with a government that cannot include Ya'alon and Gabai, but that can take on incoming Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman -- a step that prompted the U.S. State Department to officially announce that it is now wondering about the direction in which the Israeli government is headed. And they're not the only ones. If former Shin Bet security agency chief Avi Dichter quietly asks around at the next Knesset Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services meeting, he will hear people say that their American colleagues are considering a reassessment of their close intelligence cooperation with Israel, which was ongoing during U.S. President Barack Obama's terms in the White House. Gabai addressed this specifically when he announced Friday that he could no longer take on the collective responsibility placed on each minister when Ya'alon was replaced by Lieberman. Maybe this is also why Likud MK Benny Begin declined a ministerial portfolio around a week ago and is keeping a low profile on the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. Gabai's resignation reduces the breadth of the coalition in a concerning manner. If Gabai, who is not economically dependant on anyone and continues to support Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon, chooses to announce, "Let not my glory be united with their assembly" (Genesis 49:6) -- something has happened in the conduct of the national leadership that goes above and beyond replacing one minister with another. This is not simply one of many replacements. This is not an expression of overwhelming support for all of the stances Gabai outlined in his resignation statement on Friday. In contrast to him, I have held on to my position that the government cannot undo its agreements on the gas framework three times -- even if it signed mistakenly. And in contrast to his view, I believe that Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan's speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day -- in which he brought up Nazi Germany of the 1930s in comparison to current Israeli society -- was problematic and that his intention is irrelevant, rather it is what the average listener understood that matters. Ya'alon's unseating may be a worthy reason to leave the government, and Lieberman's appointment all the more so, and yet, that's still not the main issue. The main issue is the fact that Ya'alon's and Gabai's absence will thin out the governmental discourse and cause it to lose the range of opinions it so needs. The coalition is becoming one that speaks unanimously. Nothing is set in stone yet, and if I could whisper in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ear, I would suggest that he announce a break and a return to square one: Establish a coalition of 61 Knesset members and have Gabai and Ya'alon return to their ministerial posts. In the spirit of what we heard after the rift with Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, "anything is possible." It's better to fix a mistake than to ignore it.
