Israeli polls over the past five months have shown that holding early elections will lead to the fall of the right-wing rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His close associates, however, have tried to convince him that the elections are the best solution to the strained political situation. They will allow him to return to power through a national unity government without extremists.
The polls showed that the chances will be tipped in his favor if the Supreme Court annuls any of the laws that the current Knesset (parliament) has enacted.
His associates believe that the Supreme Court’s move will anger the right, which will seek to unify its ranks and reclaim support and votes it has lost in recent months, especially if Netanyahu announces a return to negotiations with the opposition.
They have told the PM that the opposition was not serious about the negotiations.
They believe that if a dead end is reached, large segments of the public will accuse the opposition of being responsible for the political and social failure, which will impact their performance in the elections.
The Maariv newspaper quoted a senior source in the coalition as saying that many were sure Netanyahu was secretly praying for a court decision to cancel the pretext of “reasonableness.”
If the law is annulled, the right will unite, it said.
It added if the law is revoked, Netanyahu will be able to call for new elections in the absence of a natural partner for dialogue.
Netanyahu will be able to form a broad unity government after the elections.
According to the sources, Netanyahu will turn to Benny Gantz or Yair Lapid to help him form a broad government without the extremists; otherwise, he would return to establish a right-wing-religious government.
According to the newspaper, most of the polls in recent months indicated that a majority of opposition party voters support the formation of a broad unity government.
A recent poll by the Center for the Promotion of Justice in Israel showed that 54 percent of the respondents believe the government should stop the judicial plan and seek “judicial reform” through elections.
About 57 percent of all respondents believed this would not be done through elections but rather through a popular referendum supervised by an unbiased body.
Fifty-one percent of the respondents demanded that the government halt the legislation of the judicial plan and hold a conference with representatives of all groups in Israel to formulate a constitution that defines the systems of government and the judiciary.
More than a third of the respondents, who said they voted for the Likud party, believe that legislation should be halted and head to new elections.
Maariv’s weekly poll indicated that the opposition camp maintains its electoral strength and could win the majority of 66 seats, compared to 54 seats for the right-wing base led by Netanyahu.
However, there are two Arab parties with 11 seats: the United Arab List of the Islamic Movement, led by MP Mansour Abbas (4 seats), and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and the Arab Movement for Change, led by MK Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi (6 seats).
Tibi and Odeh support the formation of a bloc against the far right, preventing it from forming a government.
