Kadima’s Departure Leaves Netanyahu’s Coalition at Odds with Itself

Time ^ | July 17, 2012 | Karl Vick

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Elections may be imminent as the debate over the draft--and whether the ultra-orthodox are exempt--leads to the end of Netanyahu's grand coalition

Well, that didn’t last long. The newest and largest member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition voted to leave it on Tuesday, ankling the government not quite 10 weeks after joining. Kadima, the center-right party that averted elections by joining Netanyahu’s coalition in May, voted overwhelmingly to return to opposition after Netanyahu chose to side with religious parties in the divisive question of a universal draft.

Kadima’s departure does not guarantee new elections. Netanyahu’s remaining coalition members continue to account for a majority of the Knesset, as Israel’s legislature is known. But it leaves him weaker and more vulnerable to the passions of the factions who remain — nationalists on one hand, and religious parties on the other, who live on opposite polls of the draft issue. Israel’s high court has ruled that a new law must be in place by July 31, and analysts say hopes for a compromise are leaving with the centrist Kadima.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

It's hard to see Netanyahu having a stable government without an election. It appears that Lieberman's nationalists and the ultra-Orthodox religious parties can no longer coexist in the same government.

[OldNavyVet]

If the issue is "Thou shalt not kill," reality isn't being faced.

If it's kill or be killed, there's only one rational answer.