Haviv Rettig Gur
Times of Israel, Apr. 7, 2022
“Silman’s claim on Wednesday that her resignation was over a fight with Meretz’s Nitzan Horowitz about rules against bringing non-kosher-for-Passover food into public hospitals — that she was defending “the Jewish identity of the country,” as she put it — is hard to swallow. Not even her new friends in Likud believe it.”
Idit Silman’s surprise resignation as coalition chair and defection to the opposition is a dramatic turning point for the coalition. The most politically diverse government in Israel’s history had, until Wednesday, clung to power by the slimmest possible parliamentary majority. The loss of Silman marks the loss of that majority.
But it might be more reasonable to think of the news as a resumption of the political dynamic that prevailed from the spring of 2019 till last June: a breakdown of old rules and assumptions, a fragmented parliament repeatedly reelected by a similarly divided electorate. A paralysis.
Idit Silman’s defection from the coalition she was charged with managing was predictable, and indeed predicted, by many who knew her. She never wanted the fame. A longtime activist and part-time political operator on the religious-Zionist right who squeaked into the current Knesset only because of the resignation of another Yamina member, Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi, a day before the new Knesset’s swearing-in last year, she expected to be a backbencher doing backbench work.
To view the original article, click here
