Netanyahu gets the nod

Since the Israeli elections people have been wondering who will be the new prime minister. Kadima won more seats in the Knesset than Likud did, but Shimon Peres has tapped Netanyahu to form the coalition government:

After the failure of his last-ditch effort to muster Kadima leader Tzipi Livni's support for a unity government on Friday, President Shimon Peres formally entrusted Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu with the task of building a coalition.

Netanyahu arrived as Beit Hanassi on Friday afternoon and received the president's official letter of appointment.

Earlier, after emerging from a meeting with Peres, Livni announced that she had no intention of joining a broad coalition under Netanyahu, despite the Likud chairman's assertion that he was willing to "go to great lengths" in order to induce Kadima to join his government.

"For decades we have not withstood so many challenges at the same time. To face up to these challenges we need to join hands and unite all the forces within the people. I call on all parties, those who recommended me and those who didn't. I turn to [Kadima leader Tzipi] Livni and to [Labor leader Ehud] Barak - let us join hands and pledge for the future of Israel. I hope to meet with you first and discuss a wide unity government."

"It appears that the coalition which has been formed in recent days lacks diplomatic vision," Livni said after the meeting. The Kadima leader rejected the president's plea that she reconsider joining a coalition comprised of the three largest parties - Kadima, Likud and Israeli Beiteinu - and asserted that a "broad coalition is worthless if it is not governed by values."

Netanyahu, who met with Peres shortly before Livni, said that Kadima would be the first party he turns to after receiving the nod from Peres. "I am willing to go to great lengths in the negotiations needed to establish such a government," the Likud leader said after his meeting with Peres, echoing assessments that he would be willing to give Kadima several senior portfolios in his cabinet.

This does not bode well for Israel. Netanyahu needs to prove to Livni that he won't be an extreme, right-wing prime minister. Netanyahu is correct in the fact that there must be unity in Israel right now. They are facing difficult times ahead, and they can ill afford division. For Livni, no one is asking her to throw her ideology out the window. What's being asked is that she support Netanyahu. He is, in our opinion, the person that is needed right now in Israel.

With Iran on the horizon, Hamas and Hezbollah still wishing for Israeli blood, and a president over here that seems more than willing to sit down with Israel's enemies rather than helping Israel deal with them decisively, Israel is living in very dangerous times. Peres might want to have a sit down with Livni and Netanyahu, and hammer out a deal.

Publius II