Bibi steps: Israel’s long-awaited government
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2020
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After three elections and 16 months, the unity government between sworn rivals Binyamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz gets to work tonight. Can it withstand the coming political storms? Frenetic research into the coronavirus is upending some long-established ways of disseminating science, perhaps for good. And we examine the merits of outlawing an awkward job interview question.
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Editor's note: After publication, the swearing in of Israel's new government was postponed until Sunday.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:17.2 | For many, life has slowed down recently, not for scientists. |
| 0:22.6 | Thousands of studies have already been published on the coronavirus and its effects. |
| 0:26.6 | Some of the old ways of disseminating research are being completely upended, and that is a good thing. |
| 0:33.6 | And, in many American states, it's become illegal for potential employers to ask about past salaries. |
| 0:41.6 | That simple change helps bring the chronically underpaid up to a fairer wage, |
| 0:46.4 | and, not coincidentally, goes a long way to closing the gender pay gap. |
| 0:56.2 | First up, though. |
| 1:04.4 | For more than a year, Israel seemed to be stuck in a loop. |
| 1:06.2 | Election. |
| 1:19.6 | After election, after election, as both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then head of the opposition, Benny Gantz, repeatedly failed to form a coalition. But the political deadlock is over. Tonight, the pair will inaugurate a new unity government. |
| 1:25.6 | Mr. Netanyahu will be prime minister for 18 months before |
| 1:28.7 | handing over to Mr. Gantz. The swearing-in was delayed by a day after America's Secretary of State |
| 1:34.5 | Mike Pompeo broke a travel hiatus to fly to Jerusalem and meet with both leaders. There, he discussed |
| 1:40.3 | joint efforts to counter Iran's influence in the region. The campaign that we have been part of to reduce the resources that the Ayatollah has to inflict harm |
| 1:50.1 | here in Israel and all across the world has borne fruit. It has been successful, and we're |
| 1:54.8 | going to stay at it. There's still work to do. |
| 1:57.3 | What wasn't publicly addressed were Israel's plans for the West Bank. Mr. Netanyahu campaigned on promises to annex parts of the occupied territories. |
| 2:05.6 | That's just one point of contention between his Likud party and Mr. Gantz's blue-and-white coalition |
| 2:10.6 | as the long-awaited government gets down to work. |
| 2:14.6 | Two political rivals who have been swearing in their campaigns not to trust each other, not to allow each other to be prime minister, are now basically going to guarantee each other as prime minister over the next three or four years. |
| 2:29.0 | Ansel Fever is our Israel correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem. |
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