After securing the victory of Hagit Moshe, the Prime Minister can not afford to stop • Now he must ensure that no votes remain in the right-wing bloc below the blocking percentage • Commentary
Towards the closing of the lists on Thursday at midnight, contacts between the parties and the unions are accelerating, celibacy and placing stars on the lists at the last minute.
The political system was astonished by Avi Nissenkorn's surprise retirement, briefed on the media statement summoned by Ron Huldai, followed the internal moves led by Merav Michaeli in the Labor Party and the primaries that will take place there today.
Big question marks are still hovering over the candidacies of Boogie Ya'alon, Ofer Shelach, Yaron Zelicha and others.
Huldai: "Until the lists are closed, we must take care of the formation of the center-left" // From Ron Huldai's YouTube channel
For the prime minister, all of these are being pushed to the margins of his political agenda.
At the forefront of his mind is one party on which his political fate depends - no less - on religious Zionism.
Netanyahu's chances of forming a government without the two parties to the right of the Likud passing the blocking percentage drop dramatically.
The key to the 61st right-wing coalition passes through Naftali Bennett and Bezalel Smutrich.
If one of them falls below the blocking percentage, the prime minister's chances of forming a coalition will diminish until he disappears.
In contrast to the 2019 A elections, Bennett looks stable this time.
The fear passes to Smutrich.
The four seats he will gain may bring him to power for a few more years.
In recent days, Netanyahu has been doing everything in his power to ensure that this happens.
Already a few weeks ago, he realized that the road to 61 seats passes through the split of the right and the distribution of power between Bennett and Smutrich.
After he managed to persuade Hagit Moshe to run against Bennett's trustee, Nir Orbach, for the presidency of the Jewish House - Netanyahu reached the halfway point, but he could not afford to stop here.
The next step: to ensure the passage of Smutrich's blocking percentage and prevent the waste of votes to the right is the placement of Itamar Ben Gvir in a political box that will satisfy him and prevent him from running a hopeless independent run.
Same interest, dispute over the way
Although it seems that the interest of Netanyahu and Smutrich is the same - to ensure the passage of the blocking percentage - the two completely disagree on the way.
Netanyahu believes that there is no choice but to attach Ben Gvir;
Smutrich thinks that without him it would be easier to achieve the goal.
Netanyahu will use all the power at his disposal, exerting moderate to moderate pressure on all parties involved, from politicians to rabbis and everything in between, to achieve his goal - including using, again, the Likud list and the armor available to him, to do so.
Also on the left side of the map, the picture becomes clearer as the deadline for closing the lists approaches.
What would have seemed like a celebration of the waste of mass votes, appears to be a proper deployment that would preserve the status of the bloc.
The parties that pass: there is a future, Labor and Meretz, will remain the same.
All the rest, it seems, will unite or retire.
The weak link, probably the only one, of the anti-Netanyahu camp remained the common list.
In the polls, the Arab list has fallen in power and it is possible that the split is still ahead of it, until the weekend.
Netanyahu is also aiming for that, and will continue the campaign he started among the Arab population, but it will be very difficult for him to trust it.
The extent of its impact on the moves there is still unclear, and it is possible that in the moment of truth it will become clear to everyone, including the Arab MKs who are transmitting signs of advanced distress, that the impact did not really exist.