Right-Wing Coalition Dares To Represent Like-Minded Majority

Margalit vowed to fight the strengthened coalition by fomenting disunity and open rebellion in his own Opposition party.

Jerusalem, May 19 – Politicians and commentators across the left side of the political spectrum reacted with anger today that the right-wing majority in the Knesset has come together to represent the democratic will of the people, sources in the parliament are reporting.

Nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu reversed a year of refusal to join the Likud’s right-wing coalition yesterday, buttressing the slim parliamentary majority that had repeatedly threatened the coalition’s ability to govern, and angering Opposition leaders who fumed at the gall of like-minded political groups to pursue interests shared by more than half of the electorate.

“This is a dark day for Israeli democracy,” warned Labor MK Erel Margalit. “Taking the Coalition’s sixty-one seats and increasing it by six  through the addition of another right-wing Coalition partner only underlines the antidemocratic, fascist-like tendencies of the current government. We need an alternative to this nightmare, in which the duly elected majority does things the majority of voters probably support.” Margalit vowed to fight the strengthened coalition by fomenting disunity and open rebellion in his own party, which leads the Opposition.

“We need to put forward a serious alternative, representative of our minority constituencies, to the policies of this government,” said Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, fresh from failed talks to join the government. “Only that way can the left and center-left use that alternative to once again attract less than half the votes.”

Yisrael Beiteinu’s agreement to join Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government came as negotiations with the Labor Party to form a  national unity government foundered. “[Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor] Lieberman and his party are natural partners for Likud,” said Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken. “Meaning they are part of the right-wing, which is in the majority right now, so naturally that’s a disaster, because the people are idiots and don’t know how to vote. Democracy is in danger if the ignorant masses don’t do what we tell them.” Haaretz readership represents about five percent of the newspaper market share.

Among the Arab parties in the Opposition, a quiet relief characterized the reaction to the news. “A Labor-Likud unity government would have made me the most likely candidate for Opposition leader,” explained Joint List MK Ayman Odeh. “That would force me to assume an official position in the Zionist government apparatus beyond Arab-Palestinian concerns, a dangerous act of legitimizing Israel, which pays my salary, benefits, pension, security, and other expenses. Accepting such a position would be the height of hypocrisy, a betrayal of my voters and of the constituency I assume I have among non-citizen Palestinians who would never vote in these elections,  and whom, for reasons I can’t fully justify, I think I should try to represent. You know, because democracy.”