On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go to President Shimon Peres' home in Jerusalem to update Peres on the progress of the coalition talks and Peres will grant Netanyahu a 14-day extension to finish the work of forming the next government. There is no doubt that Netanyahu will succeed in this task. But if not, a new election will be held. The next government is already hovering in the air above the Knesset. It just hasn't been established yet because the politicians have yet to overcome fears that are not based on reality. The coalition talks have been clouded by irrelevant issues. Likud clearly won't allow the situation to deteriorate to the point where a new election would be required. Netanyahu fears Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, but in actuality there is a chance they will be bedrocks in Netanyahu's coalition, as both Lapid and Bennett need the government to last long enough for them to achieve the successes they are seeking. Lapid doesn't want the haredim in the government. However, it would be Bennett who would benefit from this. Lapid could wave in front of his voters the fact that he kept Shas out of the coalition. But Bennett would gain from taking over positions at religious institutions and the Chief Rabbinate. Lapid and Bennett won't quit the government in a year and a half. Those within Likud who fear they would quit that soon are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Also, a multi-stage process of coalition building can't be ruled out. After Menachem Begin assembled a coalition in this manner after the 1977 election, it was proposed that this practice become customary. But all coalition negotiators since then have refused. But on Thursday, it was evident that top Likud negotiator David Shimron was acting based on the assumption that the government would be formed in two stages. The first stage would be without Shas and United Torah Judaism. In the second stage, these haredi parties would be brought in. Would the haredim refuse to join later? Would they take revenge on Likud for being left in the opposition for a few months? No way. With their hunger for the public coffers, the haredim's desire to join the government would remain as strong as ever. Perhaps even the flow of haredim to the Israel Defense Forces would increase. Several complicated formulas still need to be solved. Bennett would be wise to leave Tzipi Livni alone. Anyone who supports protecting the rule of law should view her as a natural candidate to be justice minister. In terms of managing negotiations with the Palestinians, she won't be doing so on her own. This is how properly functioning governments operate. What is there to fear from Livni? Only capriciousness. Netanyahu will hopefully finish the coalition negotiations within the next two or three days. It's a shame that the talks are going down to the wire. In any case, the battle for ministerial chairs will be bitter. This could be a very intelligent government. Addressing a group of Nobel Prize winners at the White House in 1962, then-President John F. Kennedy said that it was "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Israel doesn't have a Jefferson, but it does have a fine pool of potential ministers.
