Israel's new Justice Minister comes with a history

By all accounts Israel formed a new Government last week with only minutes to spare. In the aftermath of the Summer 2014 War on Gaza, all eyes have been cast toward the composition of this new government, particularly because in the waning hours of the campaign Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu revealed that there would be no state of Palestine as long as he was in power.

President Obama has made the assumption that the state of Israel will not countenance a Palestinian state while Bibi is prime minister and said so in an interview with Huffington Post in March when he said, "we take him at his word when he said that it wouldn't happen during his prime ministership, and so that's why we've got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don't see a chaotic situation in the region."

The New York Times summed up the major pitfalls of Netanyahu's 4^th government writing: "...even a single defection from Mr. Netanyahu's coalition on a budget vote or a no-confidence motion could bring his government down and precipitate a new election. His partners have few policy positions in common, so his scope for advancing major legislation will be sharply limited."

Ayelat Shaked, member of the party Jewish Home, is set to take on the Justice Ministry under this new government. Last year she was lambasted for posting on her Facebook page the erstwhile words of an Israeli right wing settler, and one-time chief of staff to Benjamin Netanyahu, Uri Elitzur, who said of the Palestinians 12 years ago, "they are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads." Foreign Policy Magazine said Thursday in a piece headlined the New Face of Israel's Hard Right that she immediately defended the post saying the translation was "unfair."

Naftali Bennett with the Bayit Yehudi party, who reportedly demanded the foreign ministry for him, and the justice portfolio for Shaked, wrote in the New York Times on November 4th, 2014, "this Palestinian entity will be short of a state. It will not control its own borders and will not be allowed to have a military." He implies that the Gaza Strip is separate from the whole of Palestine and that nevertheless, no agreement can be struck with Hamas. Bennett proposed a plan to annex Area C (a division that came from the Oslo Accords) and offer the Palestinians there Israeli citizenship leaving areas A & B in the "Palestinian entity [that] will be short of a state".

Isaac Herzog, son of Chaim Herzog, has washed his hands of any offers from Netanyahu firmly planting Zionist Union in the opposition. He said on Channel 2 in Israel, in answer to the formation of the new government on Monday, as reported by Jerusalem Post, "a coalition with 61 MKs is not a government, it will hurt the population and waste billions. It is dangerous."

With turmoil in a government that many predict won't last long, the last thing that Netanyahu needs is additional international pressure (Breaking the Silence). It's also been reported that Bibi is beefing up fortress Israel with an effort to control any changes in the regulation of media, Netanyahu has a great interest in keeping the free Sheldon Adelson funded newspaper Israel Hayom, in print. The prime minister has in mind to expand the cabinet to broaden control of the government by Likud as he has give out plum assignments to political rivals in the effort to form this government.

And he has plans to rein in the Israeli High Court. But for now, the challenge will be to keep this latest government intact.