Netanyahu knows that Gantz has no bullets left in the cartridge, but instead of opening the entire agreement with the power in his hands, the Prime Minister deals with sub-sections that will determine what to do if the High Court says one way or another • And, in general, his associates try to understand how no one let no successor grow next to him. Agree to move the wand in a year and a half

• Bennett does muscle, but there are other solutions. Netanyahu talks with fighters this week

  Photography: 

  Fresh Life / GPO

Benny Gantz's speech hours before the end of the mandate he received from the state president made it clear, if there was any doubt, that the former chief of staff did not even have one bullet in the cartridge. Shortly before the speech, his people still thought that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be threatened. Gantz was thinking of announcing the return of the retroactive personal laws, the majority of which are likely to be passed in the Knesset, and put an end to the unity talks. But the reassuring messages he received from the moment he announced his planned statement caused him to drop a volume. 

There is no one whose political senses are sharper than Netanyahu's ability to detect weakness in his rivals. And Gantz's statement was a piece of weakness. There was no way she would pass through the PM without catching her and exploit her to the end. Because what turned out was that Gantz knew he had no options. When he led a 61-seat bloc, he had heavy pressure levers. But today he doesn't even have a small bulldozer. Half of them can't look at him, and even for Schedule he is pretty much blocked, with the Knesset slated to be dissolved within three weeks, including Holocaust, Memorial and Independence days. 

So Netanyahu's pursuit of Gantz, his meeting with him, and the minor changes he is seeking to bring into the unity agreement, would have seemed a little strange with few Likud and right-wing parties. Instead of opening the entire agreement, announcing to Gantz that he will not take control of the Judiciary Committee, he will not accept an equitable government because there are more fairies to feed than the 17 blue-and-white mandates and even re-discuss the rotation agreement that suddenly looks a bit far-fetched and tearful, Netanyahu deals with Items that will determine what to do if the High Court says it cannot be Prime Minister or PM and if so, whether to go to elections or bypass legislation. 

Waiting for a bite

The concern over white is that Netanyahu deliberately did not go for the big things like eliminating the rotation, so as not to be blamed for blasting the contacts. So he goes for the minor things. Perhaps, they say, Netanyahu has long decided to lead the election and in the meantime is just a game, and he may be building on connections with left-wing parties such as Zvika Hauser and Yaza Handel, or even Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli, for a narrow coalition at the last minute. It is true that today this scenario looks distant and the two duo will agree, together or separately, only if they are part of the unity that includes Blue and White, but who knows how much their refusal to hold when the election sword is made palpable in three weeks from now. 

Handel (right) and Hauser // Photo: Oren Ben Hakon

In general, Netanyahu's agreement with Gantz in a year and a half results in a fair amount of confusion among quite a few of his associates. Throughout his reign, the man has guided the firm belief that he is the best thing for the State of Israel, especially in the context of the Iran nuclear deal. That anyone else who is in or out of the system right now can wreak havoc on the country if it is not strong enough and to stand firm against the world and even America if need be. As early as 2009, when he was re-elected prime minister, he immediately resigned the post of prime minister because he saw it as an insidious role that the issue awaits in the corner at the right moment. He later also canceled the sub-roles and vice for the same reason. 

Throughout the years, Netanyahu has been accused by his opponents, especially within the Likud, of not letting anyone around him raise his head. That anyone who catches a height next to him is immediately cut short. Netanyahu never signaled him an heir or a replacement, because he did not find anyone who could get in his shoes. And suddenly, Benny Gantz, the man he never appreciated and even in his own environment questioned his ability to lead the country, was about to receive the helm of power in a year and a half. It wasn't caught by them. It's either a mega exercise for Gantz, or we don't know what's going on here, they say in despair. 

There will be an appreciation of Netanyahu for Gantz, however, the recent conduct of the Blue and White Chairman may reveal innocence and inexperience, but also quite a bit of integrity. 

Prior to the block

On the eve of Passover, Netanyahu called the leaders of the right-wing parties to update them in negotiations with Blue and White. While everyone else received support and backing, the conversation with Naftali Bennett was difficult. When you needed the entire block solidified, I was assured that the right would not be damaged as a result of the elections and the unity , The defense minister told him. The prime minister was trying to explain that in an egalitarian government, a party that received six seats could not be approved by three ministers and probably not even two. When we could move to a side, our six mandates were much more equal to you, Bennett said. So what do you want, Netanyahu asked. The security file and other files, at the very least Bezalel Smutrich and Ayelet Shaked. But it was promised white to blue, Netanyahu said. But I was also promised not to hurt, said Bennett. 

And Bennett continued: You don't treat us like partners. Of all the cases that take or give us we hear only in the media. Correct me if I'm wrong but it doesn't seem to me that if there is any intention of taking a portfolio and switching to white, he'll hear about it in the media, right? So why are we? If partners - they will be treated as such. 

At this point, Netanyahu tried to talk to Bennett about the importance of the right-wing bloc. Bennett replied that he thought the bloc was very important, but under Netanyahu's terms and the breach of the promise that it would not be harmed, there would be no choice but to go to the opposition. I was not born a minister, he told him, and unless we accepted a proposal that suited our real needs, we could not be part of the coalition, even if the right-wing bloc would fall apart. The block is very important, Netanyahu said. That's true, Bennett said, but whoever breaks it up is you. 

If Netanyahu is in the Likud business is complicated, with some ministers having to quit their job if the unity government is established, then the matter is far more complicated nowadays. The six mandates represent three different parties, and no less than four requirements for ministerial positions. Bennett, who today holds the post of defense minister, will not be able to settle for a senior executive for him like the foreign minister and continue in government as if nothing. He has to worry about Bezalel Smutrich, the head of the National Union Party, and also to Ayelet Shaked, who claims that while everyone has been appointed minister, she has given up and remained outside in recent months. Not to mention Rabbi Rafi Peretz, who received an explicit promise from Netanyahu to remain Minister of Education after accepting him and dismantling the agreement with Itamar Ben-Gvir at his request and joining him on the right without him. 

But Rabbi Peretz is Netanyahu's problem, not Bennett's. As far as Bennett is concerned, three ministerial positions are a prerequisite for joining. According to the agreement that is formulated with blue and white and the key case in question, the right will assume only 1.5 ministerial positions (one permanent and two in rotation). On this, Bennett says in closed talks, I'm going to the opposition. We'll build the party from there for a few months, or years, and come back reinforced. In the meantime, the right bloc will fall apart and the consequences will hurt everyone, but first and foremost in Netanyahu. 

Netanyahu, it seems, will not dismantle the bloc so quickly, and if there is an agreement with Gantz, the Prime Minister will somehow try to settle things with Bennett, which will ensure his stay. If that is not possible, Netanyahu will, in his estimation, try to take him to the government At the very least, Rafi Peretz and broadcast through the move that he did not make a cushion with religious Zionism as Bennett puts it. 

Choice duo

The ongoing political crisis only heightens the question of the role of the President and his responsibilities. It was perfectly reasonable to expect that the space that lasted a year and a half without rule, the president would step in and use all his might and public power to create a government here. 

In the national and personal crisis that millions of citizens are going through these days, there is also the expectation from the number one citizen to be a reassuring, comforting, encouraging figure. When he refrained from giving the mandate to Netanyahu and passed it directly to the Knesset, it was felt that he was referring too much to politics and too much to the state missions. 

The 21-day period of the Knesset's mandate seems to allow anyone to form a government. Netanyahu preferred that the mandate be with Gantz than in the Knesset, so he agreed to extend it by a few days. Despite the slim chance that someone who is not Netanyahu will be able to form a government, the constant paranoia is rising again, with Gideon Sa'ar's name starring again. 

Every day that no agreement is signed increases the feeling of pressure in white and blue. The price Gantz has already paid. His party has disbanded and if more elections are held, there is no way to restore the achievement of a large and significant party as a governing alternative to the Likud. Even the pledge not to sit under Netanyahu will not be able to return after he has already decided that under certain conditions this is possible. Contrary to criticism by Gantz from reporters and Twitter tweeters from the left camp for agreeing to sit with Netanyahu, as promised, in recent polls, a steady trend is emerging that his party is significantly larger than the second faction - there is a future for the future led by Yair Lapid.

Sometimes comfort is also comforting. If there is an agreement, Gantz will be able to laugh at everyone, even his former partners, when he enters the prime minister's office in 18 months. And even if it does, his party appears to be the second largest after the Likud, while there is a future for Nisha as it was before the connection that formed the Blue and white. 

But as much as Gantz fears a fourth election, the greater fear is the election. That is, Netanyahu is surprising and successful in forming a coalition without him. Although the relatively natural potential partners, Hauser or Real, have firmly announced that they will not come without him, but who knows what will happen at the last minute.

The two have an independent faction in the current Knesset, but there are no options for joining that will ensure the passage of the blocking percentage in general elections. Gantz will not take them to white and blue after preventing the establishment of a minority government headed by the joint Arab list. There is no future for them. And dealing alone is not an option. The only real option in the case of elections is to the right. There are currently no known concrete contacts between them and Bennett, but it is estimated that if there are elections because they did not join the government at the last minute - it is unlikely that such contacts will take place. 

Bennett doesn't seem keen at the moment to take the two to him, to her right. Not only that in his house a little crowded, but that they both demonstrated independence in white and blue. When you don't see everything in the first place (for example, changes in the legal system: the right sees itself as the arrowhead on the issue, while both are in favor of leaving the legal situation in place), this can be a big problem. 

Seemingly, if the possibility of joining the right does not exist, it may push the two to form a government headed by Netanyahu with the right-wing bloc at the last minute. On the other hand, both have already shown that the personal political future is not always what leads them. Some would say principles. Others will say finches. If there is a unity government, their test moment will not come anyway. If not - everything will reopen.