© Ammar Awad/ReutersIsrael's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) holds a joint news conference with Shaul Mofaz, head of the Kadima party at parliament in Jerusalem May 8, 2012.
Israel's high-flying governing coalition crashed to Earth on Tuesday barely two months after getting off the ground, unable to agree on a formula for conscripting the country's ultra-Orthodox into the military. With the resignation of Shaul Mofaz as Deputy Prime Minister and the loss of his Kadima party's 28 parliamentary seats, out went the chances for formative changes in the country and the region.
When Mr. Mofaz, a former defence minister and military chief of staff, took the unexpected step of joining the right-of-centre coalition, giving the government of Benjamin Netanyahu 94 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, the Prime Minister promised three things in return: The wholesale exemptions from conscription given to the Haredim would be abolished; the electoral process would be reformed to make it harder for small parties to be elected; and there would be a new effort to advance a peace agreement with Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.
With such numerical superiority, the way seemed clear for the government to pass such measures without worrying about opposition from smaller right-wing and religious parties inside the coalition.
The much-heralded unity government was all for naught, it seems.
"Netanyahu has chosen to side with the draft-dodgers," Mr. Mofaz said Tuesday, announcing Kadima's withdrawal from the government.
Comment: In other words: The United States are prepared to toss away our children so that Oil companies in the USA can continue to profit! It's not our fault Iran feels threatened by our continued sabre rattling and nosiness in and toward that countries affairs. It will be their fault if the Strait is closed. We the United States are the victim, Iran is the most evil, vile and barbaric society on the planet (cause we say so)! We are a civilized nation of laws who respect the right (of the United States) to torture, invade and occupy other countries while Iran has done none of those things.