Home » Politics & Society » Middle East Politics » Israeli Meltdown?

Israeli Meltdown?

© lawhawk

The Israeli government is going back into its usual crisis mode as the Labor Party managed to get another vote to the floor to call for new elections. This vote, 60-6 with an abstention, was designed to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu and the Likud Party who boycotted the vote to show their displeasure with the partisan politics.

Labor has been trying to get new elections to come up early since a plurality of Israelis want to see the peace process move forward and Likud continues to hedge and stall with the Palestinian Authority. However, the key to the possibility for new elections will be the tiny Third Way Party that is currently a member of the Likud Government but has decided that it may opt out of the government over its lack of finding common ground on the peace process and to move things forward.

The Israeli political system is often held hostage to the smaller parties since the requirement to form a governing cabinet is 60 seats and no party in the history of Israel has ever achieved that on their own. Instead, Labor and Likud have to align with other parties to form the coalitions and this brings many problems with it - including giving Ministry positions to members of parties whose positions are not held by the majority of Israelis.

In other news, it was announced that King Hussein of Jordan is recovering after undergoing chemotherapy for a relapse of cancer. He was previously treated in the US for prostate cancer in 1991 and this may bode poorly for the future of relations of Israel and Jordan as the King has had close relations to Israel throughout his reign but his successor might be less friendly.

Suite101.com is always looking for new contributing editors. We're also adding new editors all the time, so please visit the contents page to see other topics that you can visit. Didn't sign up to be a member? Now is the time to sign up - Suite101.com has a lot to offer and membership is free

The copyright of the article Israeli Meltdown? in Middle East Politics is owned by . Permission to republish Israeli Meltdown? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.