Mass recruitment ("Headstart") is not a special thing.
Thousands in Israel have raised money through various platforms, in most cases to produce an art project or, God forbid, for health purposes.
But the fundraising project to fund legal defense for Benjamin Netanyahu is nonetheless special, since it involves assisting a well-to-do person who was prime minister, led by an active journalist, with money that can hardly be used at all.
The target set is five million shekels, after initially talking about seven million.
It is not clear why this particular amount was chosen.
After all, no one knows what the legal staff's salary is and how long the trial will last, if it continues to exist.
Netanyahu is a rich man, he is not groping for a plea deal because of financial problems in financing defense.
The mobilization of the masses is part of a campaign whose purpose is to prove how popular and beloved the man is and planted in hearts, and to continue to preserve the narrative of the popular leader persecuted by the elites.
Twice in my life I have done the startup in favor of art projects.
In both, I worked hard to reach the goal, and it was about the money I really needed to propel projects forward.
Every day I checked dozens of times how the recruitment was progressing.
It has become not only a story of money, but also a test of who loves / appreciates / believes in me and my purpose.
Suddenly it's not just liking Facebook, it's something real.
There is a huge gap between embracing virtually or verbally and opening the wallet.
For years we have been warned of the day when Netanyahu will lose his debut. The expectation of his supporters that on the day after the loss the country will be turbulent and noisy and people will flood the streets with cries of protest and rupture and the earth will stop moving - did not come true. Tens of thousands did not attend the demonstrations in support of him. The impressive and skilled defensive company that went viral was left pretty much alone in the campaign.
Without the narrative of a leader who is deposed and behind a people who miss him and beg for his return, Netanyahu and his supporters have no basis for continuing the campaign.
Without continuing to sell the image of "Netanyahu is even stronger today than in the past," he has no chance of continuing to hold the Likud.
"The longing for Netanyahu, the way in which the government has dropped its customs and the atmosphere around it, strengthens it greatly," MK Galit Distell-Atbrian said in an interview a few months ago, when it seemed that the Likud was starting to talk about party leadership primaries. Both Netanyahu and his supporters, who owe him their political careers, understand that without continuing to preserve their image, their game is over.
That is why Netanyahu does not want to stop the fundraising project, even if he will never be able to use the money.
It's part of a campaign, and also a signal to those who are waiting for it to fall.
A show of strength by one who understands and knows that without him - he is lost.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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