Netanyahu’s government facing looming political disaster

The Israel PM is on track to disappoint either his own coalition or the security services, leading to a possible election, writes ANSHEL PFEFFER.

Benjamin Netanyahu was on auto pilot during Wednesday’s “Day of Disruption,” calling protestors “anarchists,” no different from the settlers who Sunday night rampaged through the Palestinian town of Hawara.

Interestingly, this is the worst thing Netanyahu has had to say so far about the Hawara rioters.

But in a statement he made in the afternoon, he revealed what he’s really scared of, and it isn’t anarchy in the Jewish state.

The prime minister’s real fear is political.

Netanyahu realises that the plan to weaken the Supreme Court presented eight weeks ago by his consigliere, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, has trapped him. He has failed to brand the protesters, mainly middle-class Israel, as “anarchists.” And among the public, there is a firm majority against his “legal reform,” at least in its current form. He has lost the battle for public opinion and on the way lost the confidence of the Israeli business sector.

If the plan's various components are indeed passed by the Knesset, as the governing coalition is still on track to do within weeks, the Supreme Court is increasingly likely to rule them unconstitutional. He's also on the brink of being declared by the attorney general “unfit” to remain in office due to the obvious conflict of interest between his corruption trial and his “legal reform.”

Once the Supreme Court either disqualifies the legislation or agrees that he's unfit for office, whichever happens first, Netanyahu will be under intolerable pressure to flout the court’s ruling, in the name of “carrying out the will of the people.” If he accepts the court’s ruling, his coalition may abandon him. If he refuses to abide by the ruling, the crucial agencies of state, the armed forces and the security services, will refuse to accept his orders.