"World" editorial. It took sixteen months and three parliamentary elections for Israel to get out of the trap. On April 20, Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, General Benny Gantz, agreed to form a "national emergency" government. These two prime ministers will succeed the executive to face the coronavirus epidemic.
Mr. Netanyahu finds himself relegitimized, after more than ten consecutive years in power. His opposition will not be able to force him to leave his functions to appear, in simple litigant, in his trial for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, which is due to open on May 24. Only the Supreme Court is still able to compel it. But the judges will be reluctant to oppose a compromise that has the favor of a majority of parliamentarians and that of the presidency.
The Israelis can hope to escape a head-on conflict between the executive and the judiciary. But at what cost ? They will follow the trial of their prime minister day by day, which could last four years and bring him to prison. Such a soap opera will damage the image of Israeli democracy.
Above all, this agreement represents a headlong rush, of which the Israelis did not have time to take stock. For six months, he limited the action of the executive to contain the pandemic and its economic consequences. But it provides a crucial exception, paving the way for the annexation of the Jordan Valley and settlements in the West Bank occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967.
Unilateral action
Netanyahu had promised it to his voters in April 2019. This project could be examined by the government and the Knesset as early as July. By then, an Israeli-American committee will have mapped out the territories that Donald Trump's "vision" for "peace" in the Middle East outlined in January.
Such unilateral action, illegal under international law, threatens to confine a hypothetical Palestinian state to territories disjoined by the colonies, losing their access to Jordan. It risks destroying the Palestinian Authority, accelerating the destruction of its national project. It also undermines the survival of the fragile Jordanian monarchy. Finally, in Israel, the rule of law risks being weakened by a decision which would break the distinction between the national legal system and the military occupation regime in force in the occupied territories, temporary since 1967.
Ten years ago, this project remained on the fringes of Israeli politics. But, at the time when Mr. Netanyahu is under judicial pressure, annexation would allow him to leave a political legacy which he is lacking today. However, everything is helping to make it possible today.
It is favored by the evangelical Christian electorate of Mr. Trump, who is preparing for re-election in November. The global pandemic covers every action with a deafening din. Europe, which has significant economic arguments against Israel, already said its refusal in January. Will she be able to speak with one voice this summer?
As for Mr. Gantz, he did not obtain a veto over this project, in the agreement which binds him to Mr. Netanyahu. During the electoral campaign, he had already wished to apply Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley, "In coordination with the international community". It was a way of not promising anything. He will soon be forced to get out of this ambiguity.
