The chairman of the right "disappeared" for a family trip in the desert, but from the few conversations he has with various parties it is possible to understand where he is headed • If he fails to accept the mandate and form a government - he will connect with Netanyahu. Who found an unexpected ally • Interpretation
In his remarks yesterday, the Prime Minister addressed Gideon Saar and Naftali Bennett, but directed his remarks to a completely different place.
Netanyahu to Bennett and Saar: "Let's put the rain behind us" // Photo: GPO
His speech was not intended to bring Saar, the lost son of the Likud, home, into the warm embrace of the nationalist camp he had abandoned, but to prepare the ground for a completely different, Saar-free government.
It is still not entirely clear how, whether through defectors or through the support of an outside prime minister, Netanyahu may not yet have any plan, and all he has in mind at this stage is just trying to torpedo the formation of a government on the other side.
The one with the greatest chances of forming a coalition to replace Netanyahu is not Yair Lapid but Naftali Bennett.
Throughout the day yesterday, senior Likud members worked hard to prevent this scenario from materializing as much as possible.
Assisted by Avigdor Lieberman, who is unwilling to hear about it, has vetoed the matter in Lapid's ears.
Lieberman, by the way, denies.
Contrary to briefings as if Lapid was willing for Bennett to form the government first, Bennett himself or any of his men had not yet heard of it.
It seems that Torch is already deep in the vortex that is supposed to bring him, for the first time, to be the one who receives the mandate to form a government, that he can no longer stop and think of a different scenario.
After all, he had already given up giving up his life to Bnei Gantz.
And not once, but three.
The gap between him and Bennett is a double-digit number of seats.
His difficulty in giving up again this time is more than understandable.
Naftali Bennett is currently waiting.
Until after the holiday he is not expected to say anything significant.
Most of the time he is on a family trip in the Judean Desert.
Here and there he stops for crowded phone calls and WhatsApp messages, sometimes on the Lapid line, sometimes it's one of Netanyahu's men, but he did not tell any of them what he meant.
If he had to rank Bennett's preferences, it seems he would have preferred to accept the mandate and try to form a coalition, and if not, not to embark on other adventures and join Netanyahu.
The problem with Netanyahu is that it is also an adventure.
Even with him there is still no 61.