Netanyahu's choice: Left or right to lead Israel?

Michele Chabin, Special for USA TODAY | USA TODAY

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved Wednesday to figure out who his governing partners will be following elections that handed parliament to a hodgepodge of parties that do not all agree with his handling of the economy and Palestinians.

Netanyahu's party, Likud Yisrael Beiteinu, won the most seats in the election, 31 out of 120 in the Israeli parliament known as the Knesset. That gives him the right to lead the next government but to do so he needs a majority of members in the Knesset to join his government.

Netanyahu vowed to form as broad a coalition as possible, saying the next government would be built in part on reforming the contentious system of granting draft exemptions to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and the "responsible" pursuit of a "genuine peace" with the Palestinians.

That could prove difficult given that 60 seats went to right-wing parties and 60 to centrist parties and left-wing parties, according to the Central Election Committee.

Netanyahu must decide whether to reach out to his traditional right-wing partners, including the ultra-Orthodox parties that tend to oppose territorial compromise with the Palestinians, or to embrace the more secular parties big on social reforms, government benefits, concessions to the Palestinians and an end to the special treatment given ultra-Orthodox Jews.

"Netanyahu could squeak into government again with a very narrow, 61-seat right-wing and religious coalition," Israel Hayom columnist David Weinberg said. "But such a government would have little Israeli or international legitimacy and be hard-pressed to handle the big economic and diplomatic challenges ahead."

That's why Netanyahu is seeking the "broadest coalition possible," Weinberg said.

While nice in theory, a coalition with several parties will lead to instability, says Arye Carmon, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think tank.

"Never before has an election produced a small-scale medium party — the Likud — and 11 small parties," Carmon said.

Netanyahu could ask the party Yesh Atid to serve as the backbone of a coalition. The party, which means "There is a Future" and founded by a former television journalist, prioritizes issues of education, housing and health. On Israeli settlements it believes similarly to Netanyahu that large settlements must be made part of Israel.

However, Likud may want to expand some settlements and Yesh Atid may try to uproot some. Carmon predicted that any coalition government Netanyahu creates "will be deadlocked" within two years, a situation that could force new elections.

"I can't see how stability and governance can evolve under these circumstances," Carmon said.

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Yesh Atid's leader, Yair Lapid, has said he would only join a government committed to sweeping economic changes and a serious push to resume peace talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu has said he is ready to negotiate for a Palestinian state next to Israel but that the Palestinian Authority has made talks conditional on dismantling all settlements, some of which are cities along Israel's border full of Israeli citizens.

Netanyahu's Likud Yisrael Beitenu alliance won the most seats but 11 fewer than the 42 it held in the outgoing parliament. Yesh Atid won 19, making it the second-largest party in the Knesset.

Netanyahu called Yesh Atid's Lapid on Wednesday and offered to work together. "We have the opportunity to do great things together," Likud quoted the prime minister as saying.

"I call on the leaders of the political establishment to work with me together, to the best of their ability to form as broad a government as possible that will contain moderate forces from the left and right, the right and the left, so that we will truly be able to bring about real change," Lapid told supporters Wednesday.

In an interview last week with the Associated Press, Lapid said he would not be a "fig leaf" for a hard-line agenda on peacemaking. A leading Yesh Atid member, Yaakov Peri, said Wednesday that the party will not join unless the government pledges to begin drafting into the military the ultra-Orthodox, who have a religious objection to serving in the military, and takes steps to lower the country's high cost of living and returns to peace talks.

"We have red lines. We won't cross those red lines, even if it will cost us sitting in the opposition," Peri told Channel 2 TV.

Lapid said the election outcome reflected a longing for unity among Israelis.

"That is the message that the results of the elections have sent us," he told cheering supporters. "The citizens of Israel today said no to politics of fear and hatred. They said no to the possibility that we might splinter off into sectors, and groups and tribes and narrow interest groups. They said no to extremists, and they said no to anti-democratic behavior."

Contributing: The Associated Press