As frantic coalition talks hit a wall, journalist Ben Caspit lays out in his Maariv column a complex scenario for a minority government led by Gadi Eisenkot and warns of the catastrophic fallout that could follow.
According to Caspit, the procedural path to forming the coalition is shorter than most assume: "Eisenkot can swear in a government tomorrow morning. All he needs is the support of the bloc (48 mandates) plus six of the 19 Arab MKs. At that moment the government is sworn in and becomes the legal government of Israel. And there's another trick: it will be hard to bring it down. To topple a government you need 61 MKs who vote actively for an alternative government with an alternative prime minister."
He explains that the Arab factions' willingness to back such a structure stems from a deep crisis on the ground: "The Arab parties are ready to commit that this won't happen. Not because anyone there is in love with Eisenkot, or Liberman, or Bennett. They're fighting for their lives, literally. They're being murdered in droves. Living in an Arab city or village in Israel has become a very dangerous challenge. The one who brought them out to vote en masse is Itamar Ben-Gvir. This government, therefore, will be far more stable than the Bennett-Lapid government. The opposition is short seven hands, and they'd have to come from the direction of the Arab parties — that's almost impossible."
