Steve McGookinIsrael Poised For Anti-Netanyahu Coalition
Israel looks set to avoid its fifth national election in just over two years – and replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister – after nationalist leader Naftali Bennett appeared close to agreeing to form a “national unity government” with centrist Yair Lapid.
Lapid has until Wednesday to put together a governing coalition and it is expected that if the agreement goes ahead, the premiership would rotate between the two men, with Bennett taking the office first.
Netanyahu, whose corruption trial is still ongoing, said that Bennett was trying to pull off the “deception of the century” and cared about nothing other than becoming prime minister. He also said such a coalition would endanger Israel’s security.
The United Nations this week passed a resolution to investigate possible war crimes by both Israel and Hamas during the recent 11-day outbreak of fighting.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Ireland became the first EU member state to declare the building of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories a de facto annexation. A proposal to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland was rejected, however.
The delicate political situation in Israel presents an additional diplomatic challenge to the Biden administration, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeks to press ahead with talks with Iran over a potential nuclear agreement. Meanwhile, as of Sunday evening the US was monitoring two Iranian naval vessels that may be headed towards Venezuela for unknown reasons.
As for President Biden himself, he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for their first summit on June 16 in Geneva – after Biden attends the G7 meeting in Cornwall – amid heightened tensions over the situation in Belarus and increased cyberattacks by Russian hackers.
Finally, this week saw the 60th anniversary of Amnesty International.
See Also:
Could Israel Bid Farewell To Bibi?
***
Senate Republicans block Jan 6th Commission
The clock may be ticking on President Biden’s commitment to consensus after Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of January 6th – the day a mob loyal to former president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the ratification of Biden’s election victory.
Talks are continuing over the administration’s planned infrastructure legislation, but the two sides appear to be about a trillion dollars apart and according to Biden, “We’re going to have to close this down soon.” On Friday, the President rolled out his $6 trillion Budget plan on top of the existing post-Covid recovery spending proposals.
This weekend, the Texas legislature moved closer to enacting several new voting restrictions, the latest example of how a number of Republican states have aligned themselves with Donald Trump’s false claims over the integrity of the 2020 election. In Arizona, a widely-discredited “recount” continues in Maricopa County.
Meanwhile, it emerged this week that the Manhattan District Attorney has convened a Grand Jury to consider possible charges over potential wrongdoing at The Trump Organization. There is no guarantee that charges against the former president or any of his associates will be forthcoming, and it could be several months before it becomes clear how the process will unfold.
Monday is Memorial Day.
See Also:
As Trump’s Legal Woes Mount, The GOP Doubles Down
***
Caution over plan to lift Covid restrictions
With the so-called Indian Variant now the dominant strain of Covid-19 in Britain, there is pressure on the government to push back their June 21st date for the ending of Coronavirus restrictions. The Government says a final decision will be made a week in advance of the scheduled date.
The government also said that recent test events had been a “success” with just small numbers of cases emerging. Meanwhile there were a number of large “anti-lockdown” protests this weekend.
A single-dose vaccine manufactured by Janssen was approved by UK regulators and is set to be rolled out later this year. It will be the fourth vaccine to receive approval. Nearly three-quarters of the adult population – 38 million people – have now received at least one vaccine dose.
Northern Ireland, meanwhile, recorded ten straight days of zero Covid-related deaths, while vaccines are now available to everyone over the age of 18.
In Dublin, viral scenes of people gathering in the city at the weekend, described as “like an open air party,” led to warnings that greater transmission could heighten the risk of another wave of the virus.
Elsewhere in the world, concern continues over the impact of the virus in India and in Brazil, while there are growing fears over a new, highly transmissible Vietnam Variant, apparently a mix of the strains first detected in the UK and India.
There is also deepening confusion over the actual explanation for the original outbreak of the Coronavirus in Wuhan, with US intelligence services currently investigating the source. They are due to report their findings in three months.
See Also:
***
‘Thousands died needlessly,’ says PM’s former aide
Dominic Cummings, former senior adviser to the Prime Minister, this week savaged both his old boss and the government – in particular Health Secretary Matt Hancock – when he gave evidence to a parliamentary committee over the government’s handling of the early stages of the pandemic.
In a damning, seven-hour hearing, Cummings told MPs that he believed Boris Johnson was “unfit to be Prime Minister.”
And yet….
As for Johnson himself, his not-so-secret “secret” wedding – the first time for almost 200 years that a Prime Minister had married while in office – succeeded only in miring him in a row over his Catholicism.
See Also:
Labour, Pain And A Burning Platform
***
Poots steps onstage in NI’s political drama
After a rancorous meeting to ratify the election of Edwin Poots as its new leader, the DUP faces an unpredictable next few weeks at a delicate moment for all of Northern Ireland.
Making his debut on Andrew Marr’s BBC show on Sunday morning, Poots contended that the EU was treating Northern Ireland as a “plaything” in the negotiations over the Brexit Protocol. European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic rejected the accusation, saying negotiators had “searched for four years for the best solution to a very sensitive situation” and that he wanted to meet with Mr Poots and the other party leaders before the next joint committee meeting in June.
Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond tweeted that “The EU bogeyman trope can only last for so long. The EU never asked for this and those who pushed Leave never considered the impact on this island. The EU and the British Government jointly agreed a solution posed by the Brexit challenges.”
Meanwhile, Arlene Foster – who this week won a defamation judgment against a TV doctor – is due to step down as First Minister at the end of the month, but said she would resign this coming Tuesday if there was a shake-up in the DUP’s ministerial team. She also said she planned to resign from the party once she leaves office.
As Edwin Poots was confirmed, she abandoned her official Twitter handle, which quickly became a parody account.
By contrast, the new UUP leader Doug Beattie was confirmed smoothly in his new role this week and quickly said his party was prepared to welcome any disillusioned members of the DUP. He also warned of the possibility of greater political instability if a change in First Minister prompts another collapse of the Executive.
Finally, the family of John Hume this week presented his three world peace prizes – the Nobel, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Martin Luther King awards – to the people of his native city. The former SDLP leader, who died last August, is the only person to have received all three awards.
See Also:
Poll Points To Trouble For DUP, Opportunity For Other Parties
It’s All In The Planning: A Review Of The ‘Unification Referendums On The Island Of Ireland’ Report
A New Northern Ireland Youth Assembly Gives Cause For Hope
***
See Also Last Week’s Five Points:
Also published on Medium.
