Will Netanyahu stay obsessed with Iran or use his new coalition to help Israel?

Israel’s most formidable challenge is to simultaneously manage the threat posed by a potential Iranian nuclear weapon and that created by a rising tide of Islamism in its immediate and intermediate vicinity. And these threats are intrinsically tied together.

A rash, premature attack on Iran will have a dramatic impact on the emerging governments in the Arab world and on the internal politics in the Palestinian territories. It would give a boost to the most extreme representatives of political Islam and divert the attention and resources of the new Arab polities away from much needed domestic reforms. It would also, most likely, lead to the cancellation of the already precarious peace treaties that Jordan and Egypt have signed with Israel.

Netanyahu’s seemingly singular focus on Iran has also obscured and pushed aside a host of domestic questions, all urgent and fundamental to the Jewish state’s future and integrity. The new centrist coalition agreements include promises to move forward on some of these fronts. Consider these examples.

Last summer, Israel’s cities erupted with social unrest. The state’s productive middle class was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with rigid free market economic policies. Over the last decade these policies resulted in growing levels of income inequality and a lack of access to affordable housing, education, and childcare.

Apart from a few stop-gap measures and pro-forma declarations, Netanyahu’s government has done little to meaningfully address these problems. Furthermore, the state’s dysfunctional electoral system warps its democracy by providing disproportionate power to small anti-democratic and anti-Zionist Jewish ultra orthodox parties.

Such distortions disenfranchise and alienate the majority of Israeli voters who are forced to watch their government subsidize an entire class of young men who refuse to serve in the military, or to become part of the regular economy. Again, Netanyahu’s government has, until now, done nothing to address this. And the focus on the Iranian question has provided the perfect excuse to take such troubling, uncomfortable questions off the table.

The new coalition frees Netanyahu from the chokehold of small ultra orthodox and extreme right parties. It enables him to make dramatic changes in the electoral system. It lets him pass long overdue social reforms that would distribute the state’s burdens of military and national service more fairly. And It provides him with the political backing to resuscitate talks with the Palestinians.

The question is whether the prime minister will fully seize these opportunities or simply use his broadened parliamentary support to secure the legitimacy of a future attack on Iran.

If he really is a stargazer, it is time for Netanyahu to take in the entire constellation. His excessive focus on Iran has not promoted Israel’s interests. The new coalition he stitched together with such exquisite political skill sets up a rare opportunity to reshape Israel’s domestic institutions and strengthen its regional standing. Whether or not Netanyahu takes advantage of this opportunity is the real strategic question facing the Jewish state.

Nir Eisikovits teaches legal and political philosophy at Suffolk University where he directs the graduate program in Ethics and Public Policy. His most recent book is "Sympathizing with the Enemy: Reconciliation, Transitional Justice, Negotiation."

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