Opinion | The Last Thing Israel Needs Is Yet Another Election

TEL AVIV — This is a good year for Israelis who love political statistics. This month, Benjamin Netanyahu surpassed Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, to become the country’s longest-serving prime minister. On May 30, the Knesset dissolved itself a month after it was sworn in, making its parliamentary term the shortest in Israel’s history. This year will be the first ever with two Election Days, the one in April, the second in September.

But we might be ready to set an even more impressive record: a third election.

Explaining why Israel was forced to have a second round is technically simple: Mr. Netanyahu needed the support of 61 members of the Knesset to form a ruling coalition, but only 60 were willing to join. No other party was even close to getting this number of supporters. Trying for a new parliament was the obvious, if unhappy, solution.

A do-over election should mean one of two things. Either more people will vote for a coalition led by Mr. Netanyahu, or more people will vote for a coalition led by someone else. Unfortunately, according to the polls, neither is about to happen.

The coalition Mr. Netanyahu wishes to have is the same one he’s always relied on, with his Likud party at the helm and right-wing and religious parties as allies. This constellation of parties is expected to take fewer than 61 seats. But the coalition of those wanting to unseat Mr. Netanyahu has no realistic path to forming a government, either. For now, the voters cannot be convinced to move from one political bloc to the other. Right-wing voters stay on the right, centrists and leftists stay on the center-left. No one seems to be able to break the stalemate.

A third vote would not be a charm. It would be detrimental to Israel in many ways. In fact, even a second round has been detrimental. The last time Israel had a fully functioning parliament (and government) was last November. The earliest Israel could again have a fully functioning parliament (and government) is next October.

That’s almost a year of wasted political time. More rounds of consecutive elections mean more public money invested in politics rather than the public’s good, more bickering and bad feelings, more voter fatigue and disillusionment, more distrust in the institutions of democracy.

Why doesn’t Mr. Netanyahu seek out different coalition partners? The centrist Blue and White party is expected to be the strongest opposition party in the coming Knesset and a unity government of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud and Blue and White would likely be popular among Israelis, a majority of whom believe Mr. Netanyahu is the most fit to lead but don’t have much love for his past coalition partners, especially the ultra-Orthodox.

But that’s not the plan of either party because of several factors. First, Mr. Netanyahu wants to form a government with his usual allies, the right-wing and religious parties, in part for political reasons: This alliance is easier for him to control, and it has kept Likud in power for many years.

But he also has personal reasons: This fall, the attorney general is expected to indict Mr. Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The prime minister wants a coalition that will support him through his legal troubles — that is, one that shields him by voting for immunity, or at least lets him keep his job until the end of a long trial, as is legally permitted. He believes, probably correctly, that his traditional right-wing and religious allies would offer him that protection.

Moreover, Blue and White has said it won’t join a government led by Mr. Netanyahu under any circumstances. He is “no longer an option,” Benny Gantz, Blue and White’s leader, has said. This is not because of ideological differences or competing policy prescriptions. This is about Benjamin Netanyahu.

Blue and White is willing to form a coalition with Likud, as long as Mr. Netanyahu is no longer the party’s leader. Blue and White’s politicians say that they won’t work with the prime minister because of the likely indictment against him, but there is a lot more to it than that. For many Israelis, Mr. Netanyahu is the personification of their political grievances and social frustrations.

So this is where Israel now finds itself: preparing for a second election that appears likely to deliver the same political stalemate as the first, and with the two leading parties seemingly unable to avoid a disastrous third election.

There are two clear ways to overcome these obstacles. One is for Mr. Netanyahu to step aside and allow a coalition to form without him. The other is for Blue and White to accept that working with Mr. Netanyahu, the most popular politician in Israel, is a necessity.

Both options would require the leaders of Likud and of Blue and White to learn to compromise on important principles. For Likud’s politicians, this could mean an end to a proud tradition of always being loyal to the party’s leader. If Mr. Netanyahu is the obstacle to stability, they ought to cast him aside as they form a coalition. For the leaders of Blue and White, this could mean an end to their high-minded vows never to sit in a Netanyahu government.

Deciding between these two options won’t be easy. And yet, there is a grudging realization among Israel’s leading politicians that one side — the outcome of the election will determine which of the two — will have to accept the need for a much greater flexibility. It might not seem like the most dignified act, but Israel’s politicians must prevent a third election — for the good of the country.

Shmuel Rosner (@rosnersdomain) is the political editor at The Jewish Journal, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and a contributing opinion writer.