(Yossi Verter-Haaretz).Fewer than 90 votes separated the second government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which will be presented in the Knesset next week, from the political chaos that would have erupted Tuesday night if the Labor Party convention had rebuffed Ehud Barak. If those 90 people had not supported Barak, Netanyahu would have had to crawl back to Kadima leader Tzipi Livni and agree to all her demands. That would have left him without a party, and Livni would have gotten the nod to form a government, though it's very doubtful she would have succeeded. We might have faced new elections in the summer. Or Netanyahu might have cobbled together a narrow black-and-orange government - i.e., of religious and pro-settler parties.
After calling to express his appreciation to Barak, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Histadrut labor federation chief Ofer Eini, the prime minister-designate reminded his people of the Sayeret Matkal commando unit's slogan: "Those who dare - win." True, Netanyahu said, sometimes those who dare lose. But when I embarked on this adventure with Barak, I knew he would do everything humanly possible to win. Because he simply had no choice. What could he expect in the opposition?
The two men have known each other for 40 years, but this will be their first encounter in the high-pressure situation existing between an Israeli prime minister and defense minister. Hours after the Labor convention, in a small room in Kfar Hamaccabiah, Netanyahu and Barak drafted in a few hours a coalition agreement that in the past would have taken weeks to complete. Livni expressed frustration at the outcome of the Labor vote, which shrank the opposition and lengthened the new government's life, when she told the photographers waiting for her outside her home the next morning: "This is a government that was born in sin."
She was a member of the two governments of Ariel Sharon, who handed out ministerial posts and invented ministries and positions (such as deputy prime minister, which Livni herself benefited from). Anything Netanyahu did in the coalition talks, Sharon did before him. Netanyahu's only sin was that he succeeded where Livni had failed: Last October, he torpedoed the government she tried to form. She wasn't able to pay him back in kind - not that she didn't try.
In the past week, Livni met privately with almost every Kadima MK. "There are things about the negotiations between me and Bibi [Netanyahu] that have not been made public," she told them. "For example, that he kept telling me the whole time that there is no partner, no one to talk to, not among the Palestinians and not among the Syrians. And that he is against withdrawals because every withdrawal will lead to the creation of 'Iranian bases.' And that he is against Annapolis, which the whole world supported. And that he is against true, broad unity with Labor.
"He wanted only us so there would be a permanent majority of the right against us. And he is not ready to talk about a change in the system of government because he has commitments to the ultra-Orthodox parties. In the last meeting, when I asked him for answers on a few issues, he didn't bother to get back to me. That's why he went to Barak, because he knew it would be a lot easier."
Netanyahu told a handful of confidants this week that Livni was informed that he was talking to Barak while he was talking to her. She thought this was a trick to make her lower her price. Even last week, when the Barak-Netanyahu talks became public knowledge, Livni received a message from the Likud leader that he was ready to continue the contacts with her and Barak in parallel. She was convinced there was no chance Barak would get his party to agree. She continued to insist on a rotation government. (Her last offer conveyed to Netanyahu was 60:40 - he would be prime minister for 60 percent of the government's tenure, and she would be for 40 percent. He didn't call back.) Who is giving Livni political advice, Netanyahu wondered to his aides this week.
