1.
Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman continues to confuse the political system. One day on, one day off.
Yesterday was another step towards a coalition. The cooperation between Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud on the judicial appointment committee is a meaningless move. In any case, none of the Supreme Court justices will vacate their positions before 2017.
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Will the 20th Knesset, with the appointment of MK Robert Ilatov from Lieberman's faction, even survive 2016? Highly doubtful.
But with Lieberman, as always, the main thing is the maneuvers. The maneuvering.
2.
On Monday evening, many left the Knesset building for Mount Herzl, for the state memorial service for the fallen of Protective Edge. In order to deal with the nearly empty plenary session during the memorial service, and also to avoid holding discussions on the end time of the Ramadan fast, the coalition leadership decided to declare a two-hour break in the discussions.
Around sunset, I also went out onto the cafeteria balcony. Unfortunately, journalists are not allowed to film the meetings between Knesset members and faction leaders that take place there.
One intimate meeting, against the backdrop of the sunset, took place before my eyes and was also photographed by more than one person, but since I was also there, I chose not to use the photographs that were sent to me.
Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman, both in suits, in a quiet, calm conversation, with Jerusalem spread out beneath them. They talked and talked. If there wasn't a plenary session, a buffet, and all sorts of activists, you could almost feel the romance in the air.
Later in the evening, Lieberman skipped out on the plenary session. Two more from his faction (Orly Levy-Abekasis and Robert Ilatov) didn't bother to participate in the opposition's efforts. Some of them backed off or simply went to sleep.
Lapid, on the other hand, is obedient. He ordered all 10 of his men to stick to the plenum.
Nobody is moving.
3.
One of my conclusions from watching the opposition members from the sidelines in recent weeks, in all the events in which they tried to embarrass the coalition, is as follows: The Zionist Union, led by Herzog, cooperates well with Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid and Meretz, led by Galon.
This axis: Herzog-Lapid-Gallon, works relatively smoothly (glitches here and there). It is not for nothing that Herzog and Michaly chose Karin Elharer's bill, as the relatively simple proposal that all opposition members can support.
This is an enforcement law, a certain bias in the ability to access enforcement offices towards the debtors. The law was presented as social, as having no budgetary cost to the state, and of course: it was a law of Yesh Atid and not of the Zionist Camp.
Everyone rushed into the plenary and passed the law in a preliminary reading only. That doesn't mean the law has much chance going forward, but the fact that Lapid, Herzog, and Galon are coordinated is clear.
The three together have 40 members of Knesset, not all of whom are naturally obedient types. The Joint List cooperates with the opposition, sometimes. Some days yes, some days no, depending on who you ask.
But the separatists of the opposition are Yisrael Beiteinu. Even with the intimate conversation between Lapid and Lieberman, it is clear that Herzog is unable to predict more than an hour or two ahead, what Lieberman is planning.
Didn't Tzipi Livni present herself in the past as a personal friend of Lieberman? Where is that connection now?.
4.
If someone were to count the number of hours Netanyahu physically sits in his seat in the plenum, including nights, and even until 4:00 in the morning, they might reach unprecedented numbers.
After Netanyahu's long hours in the plenum on Monday, and light on Tuesday, Wednesday also arrived, with the private bills.
Elharar was honored to be the first MK to succeed in passing a law in preliminary reading, while the government was opposed, in many years.
One of the newspapers wrote that this had not happened in 6 years. Wednesday debates, during all previous terms (the days of private bills), were devoid of Netanyahu. Almost always. Netanyahu would come to the plenary on Wednesdays only with an invitation to a debate with 40 signatures, and even that did not happen much. There are about two weeks left until the summer session of the Knesset.
This is a shorter conference than usual, because it took Netanyahu a long time to form the government. They started very late.
In the ten weeks (plus or minus) of the summer session, it is almost possible to summarize and say - the Knesset is achieving nothing. With the exception of an amendment to the Basic Law of the Government that would allow Netanyahu to appoint ministers and deputy ministers while postponing the 18-minister limit until next time, this Knesset is not advancing any significant move. There is currently no reform, or anything.
This is the fate of the 20th Knesset.
5.
Have you noticed that Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon is avoiding the media?
The last time he sat down for an interview was on May 20, on "Meet the Press" on Channel 2. Seven weeks have passed since then and the Finance Minister does not think he should be accountable to the public.
Interviews, in his opinion, are an unnecessary act. But the truth is, I too would prefer that elected officials hold press conferences (at least) and not just interviews. Open press conferences, where questions can be asked. The kind we see on television, in series, a practice that actually exists in other countries - and not act like the Israeli Prime Minister, who for many years has been violating the basic values of democracy and avoiding answering questions.
