An Israeli government at last

After a damaging year of political stasis and three inconclusive elections, Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz gave coronavirus as the reason he finally buckled and agreed to form a national unity government with Benjamin Netanyahu. Explaining his spectacular backflip, after trenchantly insisting he would never join an administration led by Mr Netanyahu, the former army commander said: “These are unusual times and they call for unusual decisions.”

He was right: the 3619 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths in Israel to date are testing what is the Middle East’s finest medical system. As good as it is, however, there is potential for catastrophe with COVID-19 in Gaza, where 2 million people are crammed together cheek by jowl with few hygiene services. At this stage, the Palestinian territory has reported just 98 cases and one death.

While coronavirus may have been the immediate reason Mr Gantz teamed up with Mr Netanyahu, other issues are in urgent need of resolution after a year of caretaker government with Mr Netanyahu acting prime minister. Without a fully fledged government, Israel has not been able to pass military budgets needed for arms procurement and infrastructure.

The most recent of the three elections on March 2 showed again that Israel was divided down the middle between Mr Netanyahu’s Likud-led right-wing coalition and what was Mr Gantz’s more moderate Blue and White alliance. Neither could form government without the other. It is to Mr Gantz’s credit that he was prepared to, in effect, blow up Blue and White for the sake of the national interest.

Furious former allies in Blue and White’s shattered ranks have accused him of “crawling” to join the new national unity government in which, if all goes well, Mr Netanyahu will serve initially as prime minister for 18 months, with Mr Gantz as his deputy. Mr Gantz will then take over as prime minister in September next year.

With Mr Netanyahu under indictment and facing trial on bribery and fraud charges, it could not have been easy for Mr Gantz to agree to serve under him. But the more telling criticism that could be made of Mr Gantz is it took him so long to accept the compelling force of President Reuven Rivlin’s advice that the only way out of Israel’s protracted political impasse was a national unity government.

Much has been left in abeyance during the long months of political arm-wrestling. The fact COVID-19 is racing like wildfire through Iran has also created apprehension about future actions of an unhinged, would-be nuclear nation hellbent on Israel’s destruction. It is imperative that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gantz set aside past differences and form the stable, broadbased government Israel has needed for so long. They must also stick scrupulously to the deal they have announced.