Netanyahu’s coalition terms with Barak might as well have been signed by Yossi Belin: furthering the peace process, committing to honoring all the agreements (including Oslo), pursuing a peace track with Syria, and “enforcing justice” on illegal outposts. Those commitments might push the National Union to leave the coalition—an event Netanyahu would likely applaud, as he is more comfortable with Avodah than with true right-wingers. The NU would be silly to exit the government, because by doing so it would lose a tribune.
But Netanyahu’s commitments might be weasel ones. The agreements require Palestinians to fight terrorism, which they won’t do. Besides the outposts, the commitments include doing something about illegal Arab construction, an obvious nod to the National Union.
The lesson is that however Israelis vote, the government and its programs remain the same.
