By: Henrique A. Buzin.
JERUSALEM — The national unity government formed in Israel two months ago unraveled on Tuesday, when the head of the centrist Kadima Party, Shaul Mofaz, announced that he was withdrawing because of intractable differences with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party over a proposed universal national service law.
A Kadima operative confirmed the breakup Tuesday afternoon, saying of Mr. Mofaz in an e-mail message, “Yes, he’s pulling out.”Another Kadima member, Yoel Hasson, said that 25 of the party’s members of parliament voted in favor of leaving the coalition, with three opposed.
Ynetnews.com, an Israeli news Web site, quoted Mr. Mofaz as telling Kadima Party lawmakers in a closed-door meeting, “It is with deep regret that I say that there is no choice but to decide to leave the government.” Earlier on Tuesday, Kadima released a statement announcing that "negotiations between Kadima and the Likud over the equal distribution of the burden have failed," a reference to the national service law.
The withdrawal of Kadima does not deny Mr. Netanyahu a governing majority in the Knesset. But it does take away the supermajority of 94 of the Parliament’s 120 members that led Time Magazine to dub him “King of Israel.”
The coalition has been in turmoil for weeks over the issue of how to draft more ultra-Orthodox Jews as well as Arab citizens into either the military or civilian service, an issue that has been brewing since February when Israel’s Supreme Court invalidated a law granting draft exemptions to thousands of yeshiva students. Mr. Mofaz and Mr. Netanyahu said when they formed their surprise partnership in early May that rewriting the law to ensure that all citizens would share the burden was a top priority of the coalition.
That deal stunned Israel’s political establishment and staved off early elections, which Mr. Netanyahu had announced only the night before. Now, even though Mr. Netanyahu can theoretically continue to the end of his term with the coalition he had before May, most analysts here expect elections to be scheduled in January, nine months early.
While Mr. Mofaz’s Kadima Party had drafted legislation that would have required 80 percent of ultra-Orthodox men to enlist within four years, many in Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud faction, as well as the religious parties with which it has long been aligned, insisted that was moving too fast. Another key coalition partner, Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, had made requiring Israel’s Arab citizens to do some kind of community service a priority, which also irked Kadima.
Mr. Netanyahu remains extremely popular in Israel, and most here see his re-election as all but assured. The key question is what will become of Kadima, a centrist party that broke away from the Likud in 2005 and has recently lost traction in public polls.
Tzipi Livni had been replaced by Mr. Mofaz as Kadima’s leader shortly before it joined the coalition with Likud, and some believe she will now make a comeback. Others are urging Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister acquitted last week in two key corruption cases, to retake the reins. Many others believe Kadima will disintegrate, with right-leaning members rejoining Likud and others forming a new center-left movement.
“It’s not the same Bibi or Likud as it was before the coalition with Mofaz, and it’s definitely not the same Kadima — they will be much weaker,” said Isaac Herzog, chairman of Parliament’s Labor Party faction, using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname. “We are very sorry that Mofaz and Kadima have dragged the Israeli people for months with a futile effort on all fronts. Right now the only real option and the right thing to do is for Netanyahu to move to elections instantaneously without further delay.”
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