Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held marathon meetings with Likud ministers on Sunday. Barring last-minute surprises, he is more or less keeping the same cabinet members.
The changes are minor. Gideon Sa'ar lost the Education Ministry, which he wanted very badly, but anyone who knows him knows he'll attack the Interior Ministry with equal gusto. Likud MK Danny Danon also forgot his earlier refusal to accept anything less than a full-fledged ministerial post. It turns out that deputy defense minister is sufficiently enticing.
The candidates were on edge all day. Likud MK Silvan Shalom wasn't sure about the job he'd been offered. Netanyahu failed to promote him, but at the same time the prime minister seemed to have nothing to offer. Had Shalom quit, Netanyahu would have seen him as yet another adversary. Netanyahu would have acquired another detractor, but at the same time freed up a portfolio for those left empty-handed.
By tonight, all this will be behind us. Netanyahu will present the government and the ministers will smile for a group photo at the President's Residence. Everyone will breathe a sigh of relief, and the Sisyphean work will commence. Two days before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit, to be immediately followed by John Kerry, Netanyahu has established a government that has yet to formulate a detailed policy on the Palestinian issue. This government will likely face its first test in very short order.
The state of our economy is clear, although the coalition has not yet agreed on how to address our economic problems. Will newly appointed Finance Minister Yair Lapid impose a tax hike on his voting public? Will he reduce government services, particularly to society's weakest members? Will there be a significant cut in the defense budget, which Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon will accept, but not to the degree required by the Finance Ministry?
Israel's 33rd government has clear leanings on economic and other policy issues, although there is no detailed consensus on what lines can and cannot be crossed. On the other hand, this new government has a detailed social agenda. Will it adhere to the timetable it has set? That is its central test. Governments that lose sight of their goals usually begin by missing deadlines.
Netanyahu, Lapid and Naftali Bennett need to be very serious about the deadlines for implementing the ultra-Orthodox draft and raising the elections threshold. The historic test will be implementing the core studies curriculum advocated by newly designated Education Minister Shai Piron (Yesh Atid). It must be implemented before something happens to bring the haredim back into the government.
Other issues still need to be clarified. As education minister, Sa'ar placed striving for excellence at the top of its agenda. Piron, on the other hand, seems intent on reducing the number of matriculation exams required of students, a populist step that is not necessarily educational. The government has yet to decide a policy. But let's take one thing as a time. Tonight will see the launching of a stable and very interesting coalition. I wish them well.
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