Israeli Machiavellism in Action?

After today’s disappointment with Krauthammer I am more than a little leery of journalistic opinions but Shira Herzog’s Globe and Mail column today produced this interesting tidbit at the end concerning Israeli election law that could put events unfolding in the Israeli political situation in a whole new light. Here’s the money quote:

According to Israel's Basic Law, if Mr. Sharon lives (without returning to office), Mr. Olmert will continue to serve as acting prime minister for up to 100 days and take the country to the polls on March 28. But if Mr. Sharon dies any time soon, the government will officially fall. Then, Israel's President, Moshe Katsav, may very well turn to the leader of the largest Knesset faction and ask him to form a government. That faction is Likud, now led by Mr. Netanyahu. In other words, if Mr. Sharon doesn't stay alive, independent constitutional circumstances could make Mr. Netanyahu head of an interim government. In that event, he might even try to postpone the election date to buy time as an incumbent.

Herzog is not an Israeli constitutional expert and this very well may be a case of journalistic over reach but it does present an interesting scenario. Namely that Ariel Sharon could potentially be kept on life support systems for literally weeks while being certifiably brain dead all for the sake of the political future of certain Kadima members.

There are a more than a few Kadima politicos who rolled the dice and crossed the Israeli Rubicon by joining Sharon in this new political venture. If Kadima falls or the Kadima allegiance cannot find a cohesive way to pull its political act together their political careers will be taking the fast track to ground zero. Very few individuals are able to survive a political fall from grace and rise again from the ashes of political ignominy. The greatest threat to Kadima’s future would be for the Likud party lead by Benjamin Netanyahu to form a successful interim government.

Already there are persistent rumours that Sharon is brain dead while his medical team insists that he is just sedated following three separate surgeries designed to stop the haemorrhaging of his brain. If you think that Israeli politicos are not capable of practising that kind of political chutzpah; you have not been watching Israeli politics for longer than the moment it takes to scan the headlines.