As the June 3 Paris peace conference approaches, the recent effort to broaden Israel’s government may emerge as one of the more consequential moves of Binyamin Netanyahu’s premiership — not for what it produced, but rather for what may have been foreclosed. Much of the public commentary on the latest developments has focused on his decision to replace the experienced, steady, and trusted defense minister Moshe Yaalon with Moldovan-born arch-nationalist Avigdor Liberman, who has not hid his disdain for Netanyahu or his desire to become prime minister in the future. Indeed, the stakes are significant given Liberman’s controversial statements on Israeli Arabs, Egypt, and the need to reoccupy Gaza; in the immediate sense, Netanyahu brought in his former aide turned rival in order to widen his very narrow coalition majority from 61 to 66 seats in the 120-member Knesset.

However, no less consequential was the collapsed effort to promote a centrist strategy by bringing together center-right Likud Party members and center-left Labor Party members in a joint effort to address the Palestinian issue. Netanyahu’s failure to close a coalition deal with Labor leader Isaac (Bougie) Herzog after months of quiet, painstaking talks may be something more profound than a failed political gambit — it could represent how deeply polarized Israel has become.

Read the full article at the Washington Institute.