Interview to Bernard Gwertzman
In the wake of the January 22 Israeli parliamentary
elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking the largest
coalition government he can secure, says expert David Makovsky, because
"the biggest government means no one faction can hold him by the
throat." He says that U.S. officials were pleased by the surge of votes
toward the center and the likelihood that newspaper columnist and radio
host Yair Lapid is destined to play a major role in the new government.
"There will be more moderate people in the government who happen to have
positions on peace that would certainly be preferable to a right-wing
government," Makovsky says. Outside of the elections, he says that
Israelis are also increasingly concerned about developments in Syria,
particularly the fate of Syria's chemical weapons, which they do not
want to see fall into the hands of Hezbollah or other anti-Israeli
elements.
The Israeli elections are now about a week old, but the
maneuvering to form a new government has just begun. Meanwhile, Prime
Minister Netanyahu expressed great concern about Syria's chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands. Is this something we have to take seriously, or is this just a distraction?
Israel has tried to stay out of the Syria situation for a variety of
reasons. It's not because Israelis are not appalled by the slaughter,
but they're fearful that if they openly side with the opposition, it
will be a bear hug. Secondly, the Israelis are very nervous about
reports of jihadis in the opposition. They see the choice as between bad
and worse. They want President Bashar al-Assad to go, but they don't
have confidence in who he'll be replaced by. Israelis believe they
cannot influence the shape of the outcome in Syria and they are focused
on the worst-case scenario, which is that there could be proliferation
of chemical weaponry or a transfer of them to Hezbollah. They are also
concerned that the loss of a centralized state in Syria could mean weak
borders that could easily be infiltrated.
