Netanyahu at the Merkaz HaRav meeting. Even those who try to circumvent it from the right understood the message (Photo: documentation on social networks according to section 27A of the Copyright Law, according to section 27A of the Copyright Law)
Don't believe the headlines: There is no real crisis between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox, not even between him and Ben-Gvir, certainly not Smotrich or Shas. Yes, I know – you too woke up this morning to the headlines about the 600 million shekels that the ultra-Orthodox lack in order to have their finger raised for the budget.
Notice Netanyahu's modus operandi: the regime coup is entirely that of Yariv Levin and the so-called "extremists" in the Likud, he is really trying to moderate them with all his might, to talk about broad agreement, to delay - until for a moment it is not at all certain whether he is the prime minister or the president.
On the other hand, for those who insist on continuing the legislation, he sells the army and Galant, what does it sell? Includes a special holiday offer between Shavuot and Independence Day. It's not him who doesn't want to take advantage of the Knesset majority to run over, it's Galant, the leftist, of course.
And when that succeeds, Netanyahu suddenly becomes the guardian of the state's coffers: creating a confrontation, something about ultra-Orthodox education. Say, do you really believe that someone will blow up a NIS 14 billion deal just because of NIS 600 million? Even mathematically it doesn't make sense.
What does Netanyahu gain? What he loves most - the image of the responsible adult, the moderate element of his government. He loves this position. He used to have Barak, Lapid on the left, and Lieberman, Bennett and Shaked and others on the right. Now he's trying to stand in the middle again, even though that middle has moved to the right for now.
It's not just the ultra-Orthodox who can't topple the government because of the budget. Ben-Gvir can also overtake Netanyahu from the right, especially in the media. For less than six months, we stopped counting the times he shouted, "Hold me." It's all a façade.
Look at a picture and try to find someone who has a real interest in toppling the government (Photo: Image Adaptation, Jonathan Zindel, Mark Israel Salem, Olivia Fitoussi - Flash 90, Shutterstock)
So the budget will pass soon. After we've all swallowed the spins – and maybe a few hundred million more that will move from one pocket to another. Netanyahu will look squirming, it's important to him that we see him squirming. He will even tacitly agree to headlines that tell the world how "stressed," "blackmailed" he is, and all sorts of other titles that supposedly shouldn't flatter him.
Why? Because at the end of the day, everyone knows why he's stressed and blackmailed: These are the files you "tailored" for him at the State Prosecutor's Office, right? So here's another reason to break it into pieces: Even if justice is done ostensibly, we will finally get the real, almighty Netanyahu, free from the horrors of justice.
So Netanyahu, who took a bit of a hit in the polls before the Gaza operation, will now be kidnapped because of what looks like a liquidation sale of the state budget? How do those who say that you are the initiator of an imaginary crisis at the moment? Nu shuin. Is there an election coming soon? Polls make headlines, not topple governments.
And Netanyahu's is strong, it's strong because no one really has a choice there: Even the so-called Torah scholars won't dare to come out against Netanyahu on the ultra-Orthodox street, because in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, Netanyahu is a superstar. Right to right? There, too, no one will risk a centrist government that will advance – even if only as lip service to the nations of the world – the political process. Netanyahu has established a government in which his freedom seems to depend on the finger of a few people who may seem unstable enough, but none of whom will dismantle it.
The debate over whether or not the budget will pass is very convenient for Netanyahu, because the moment we are busy (whether out of fear for the integrity of the government or in the false hope that it will soon fall) we are not arguing about the substance, about a budget designed to stimulate unemployment, to deepen illiteracy, a budget that sells the capital that the productive public in Israel brings into the state coffers in order to destroy its future. This severe discussion was supposed to bring out the best in the protest movement, in fact it too was dragged into Netanyahu's budget reality show: Will it pass or will it not pass? Vote and make a difference.
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Netanyahu's display in prisoner clothing during last night's demonstration. The real prisoners are the taxpayers (Photo: Reuven Castro)
In fact, politically, it seems that Netanyahu's situation was no better, except for this small matter called "reality": the amount of money coming out of Israel is still unknown, but it is known that they flow with every day that middle-class Israeli citizens realize that half of every shekel they work for with the sweat of their noses works not for them, but is donated to the war declared for their future.
This spillover, how sad it is that truthtellers don't understand politics, is causing a devaluation of the shekel. The depreciation causes prices to rise (there was one clause that was supposed to limit - and even that by the margins - some large importers. It was the first to fly out of the final draft, and now all this backfires, in the form of price increases), price increases prevent inflation from converging to reasonable numbers, which leads to interest rate increases... Yes, in the end, the governor comes out of this whole story as the bad guy - and he didn't even know he was like that (wait and see soon when he will have no choice but to raise the interest rate).
And all this hurts sevenfold, because for a moment it seemed that spring had come: that inflation had been contained, that the recovering capital markets around the world were also projecting onto the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which was immersed in a long winter sleep, because overall we have a great economy (and maybe we should start talking in the past tense, like someone who is hard to believe is no longer with us?): technology-oriented, with improved labor productivity, With excess tax collection.
Netanyahu is like someone who inherited a blank check and chose to invest it in a casino. Politically, he raked in the jackpot, in every other respect, he spent – and he wastes our money.
Now it is convenient for him that we will all continue to watch mesmerized by the budget reality show, when Knesset members whose names we have not even had time to know will receive their 15 minutes of fame. The economic data will strike soon: the creeping depreciation will continue, perhaps even accelerate, prices will continue to rise (please remember that the entire recent wave of price increases was not reflected at all in the April CPI, which was almost double the forecast!), you will also raise the interest rate – but Netanyahu will ensure quiet in the threatening budget sector for a period of time that, in political terms, is like an eternity, that's all he needs.
So all the drama surrounding the budget is one big fake, a spin designed to divert the attention from the fact that Netanyahu is buying his peace with our money. The one who doesn't care, some of us already know. The question is, how can it be that we don't care?
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