Netanyahu mentions the same boy who takes the ball and shouts "If I do not play there is no game" • In the absence of realistic options for forming a government under his leadership, he concentrates an effort not to allow the other side to do so • And the day of voting for the organizing committee was summed up in two words:
Mickey Zohar's remarks about going into opposition described the mood in the head as well.
Netanyahu
Photo:
Jonathan Zindel / Flash 90
Naftali Bennett keeps the cards close to his chest, and he seems to be really tormented by the possibilities he faces. In his statement to the media on Wednesday, in which he responded to the many attacks launched on him by Prime Minister Netanyahu, he said that in the national unity government that he will try to establish with Lapid at the end of Netanyahu's mandate, he will adhere to right-wing principles. , Merav Michaeli and others, who grinned at the news.
Well-formulated the feelings on the left towards Bennett Musi Raz from Meretz, who said "we have 61, if Bennett wants to join - he is welcome." In one vote in the Knesset, the bloc of change illustrated what Bennett would expect if he went on an adventure in this unknown land. One does not have to use too much imagination to assess what will happen when more cardinal laws are laid on the table, such as the overcoming clause, or the outpost training law. Not to mention the secret ballots on the members of the Judicial Appointments Committee or even on the President of the State. In such a government, Bennett will be the prime minister, but only in the title. The tone-setters will be members of the left-wing majority, with Arab MKs supporting them from the outside.
The most significant change that may take place in the change government is the joining of the ultra-Orthodox factions. This is his move Bennett hopes for, and if he gets the mandate, he will work with all his might to achieve. Chances are it won't happen. The ultra-Orthodox will not leave Netanyahu, certainly not the coalition of Lapid, Lieberman, Horowitz and the Reform Rabbi Gilad Karib. The only one who makes signs that this is possible is Moshe Gafni, but despite the independent line he takes with members of Agudat Israel and Shas - among other things he intends to meet with Yair Lapid next week - he will probably not abandon the ultra-Orthodox bloc and graze in foreign fields.
But that does not mean that hope for the bloc of change is zero. Although this scenario has not yet been openly discussed, sources in the ultra-Orthodox parties believe that if the change government, right-left-Arab, rises without them, and it turns out a few months later that contrary to estimates it stands on its own - it is not unlikely that they will support it, inside and maybe outside. For its stability, its need to rely on the Arab parties will be cut off, and all this of course in exchange for budgets and other important things for the sector.
The messages behind the attack
in
the
midst of the days of the mandate given to him by the president, it seems that more than Benjamin Netanyahu is working to form a government, he is working to dissolve the other side's government. Two days after the prime minister received the mandate, Bezalel Smutrich had already made it clear to him that he would in no way agree to sit in a coalition based on the support of the prime minister.
This was in fact the moment when Netanyahu realized that he had reached a dead end that would probably not be possible to get out of. After several more attempts to persuade Smutrich on the one hand, to call on Saar to return to the Likud on the other, and to catch a few defectors from different parties along the way, Netanyahu's main effort has been to ensure that after that it is just the flood - it or he or the election.
On Monday, when he lost the vote on the Knesset organizing committee, Netanyahu saw before his eyes the fulfillment of the worst-case scenario for him. Just as all the forces wishing to oust him in order to oust him from his parliamentary power have risen, so they may band together to oust him from the prime minister in two weeks. And they did so even without Bennett, who actually joined him at the last minute. If you join the 61 MKs who joined together on Monday on the right, the camp of change (or hatred - depending on the eye of the beholder) in the current Knesset will grow to 68 MKs. A considerable force that must not be ignored.
The target of the attack chosen this week was Naftali Bennett. It is difficult to shake off the impression that the choice of target did not mix mental movements and personal preferences in the cold political consideration, but for Netanyahu, Bennett is a strategic target, because if there is a party that could train the alternative right-left-Arab government, it is right.
Netanyahu's public call and accusations are against Bennett, but the quiet actions and the transmission of the messages below the surface are taking place with Ayelet Shaked and Avir Kara.
The Likud says that Netanyahu needs the next Orly Levy-Abacis. For two to say that in such a government, which extends from Lapid, Nitzan Horowitz, Abtissam from Ra'ana to the joint list, they will not sit in any way. All actions, public statements and initiatives - like the direct election - are aimed at this goal. There is no need for a RAAM either, as he said this week, he will not be the one to train them for the other side.
The last refuge in the
midst of the second election campaign, which opened after Prime Minister Netanyahu led a law to dissolve the Knesset after failing to form a coalition, suddenly emerged a proposal, which was then discussed for the first time by then-Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. There was no legal basis for this proposal, however Edelstein promoted it vigorously and argued that it was possible. It was not long before it became clear that Netanyahu was behind the proposal, which he also began to promote passionately. The end is known, this proposal dissolved faster than it was born.
Some people remember this episode this week, following Netanyahu's rapid support for Aryeh Deri's initiative for direct election as a replacement for the fifth election. This time too, as then, Netanyahu is galloping to promote a proposal whose chances of success are nil. No one on the other side has an interest in lending a hand to the move, as long as they have not been given the opportunity themselves to form a coalition. Neither does Levant. If they fail too, there might be something to talk about. But now, none of them have any interest.
But the fact that the chances are not high, and even the fact that this is a far-reaching constitutional change and in the middle of another democratic process that is in progress, do not mean that this is not a just demand. Four election campaigns were enough to understand that without a change in the method, there would also be no change in the result.
Netanyahu's test will be whether even after they fail, and a fifth general election is imminent, he will still push for a referendum on the prime minister - something he rightly said, which the majority of the public supports - or would prefer general elections.
The one who will stand the test after the end of Netanyahu's term, if the prime minister does fail, is the president. The right, and especially Netanyahu's entourage, claimed that Reuven Rivlin harnessed the president's house, his powers and unique resources, in favor of one candidate in the political system. The president, according to those who suspect him of conspiracy, has already proved in the rounds of consultations and events that followed that he was willing to sell the statehood so as not to see Netanyahu more in Balfour, so they will not be surprised if he continues in this way and grants the mandate to the man who stormed. Hefetz, in two weeks from today.
The previous time, after the third round of elections, Netanyahu tried to persuade Rivlin, in vain, to grant him the mandate after Bnei Gantz failed. The president refused. In the name of the people's right to a speedy decision, he decided to shorten the procedure and hand over the mandate directly to the Knesset. By the way, in the same round, Netanyahu actually managed to form a government, when the Blue and White faction supported him and handed over the signatures of its members to the president. If the president now decides not to skip another candidate and transfer the mandate directly to the Knesset, as in the previous time, but to impose it on Yair Lapid or Naftali Bennett, it will be a particularly jarring ending chord saturated with forgeries and squeaks.
Likud thinks ahead
On Monday, shortly before the defeat in the Knesset in a vote on the organizing committee, Netanyahu sat in his office in the Mishkan. The atmosphere was an atmosphere of anguish. Everyone who came in, went out and ran around the office area on the government floor, understood very quickly what the mood of the head was. When Miki Zohar said a few hours later in the organizing committee that his opposition party and the next chairman of the opposition is probably Benjamin Netanyahu, he did not say so from his fevered mind. Everyone who met Netanyahu that day heard similar things from him; ministers and MKs, as well as one veteran member Rabbi David Nachshon, one of the leaders of Chabad in Israel, who came to visit Netanyahu and reminded him that just 33 years ago, when he took him to Rabbi Lubavitch in New York shortly after he was first elected to the Knesset, the Rebbe told him that Netanyahu would have to fight 119 Knesset members. The others. The Rebbe then reassured Netanyahu and told him that he had nothing to worry about as long as God was on his side.
The two sat down to talk about political affairs, and Netanyahu seemed turned off and devoid of energy. The Prime Minister also spoke with Rabbi Nachshon about the possibility of walking close to the opposition. The meeting was adjourned when the Prime Minister had to hurry to the vote. When he returned, after the scorching defeat, the two continued their meeting and tried to think of other ways to convince Smutrich. Despite Mansour Abbas' vote against Netanyahu, the prime minister has not yet removed the possibility of cooperating with the rabbi. It was a one-off incident, he told him, no more than that.
The general political instability directly affects what is happening in the ruling party. The scenario in which Netanyahu would prefer at the last minute to give the prime minister to Yariv Levin for the first year, only to include Gideon Saar, shocks the senior ministers who are unwilling to hear about it. If Netanyahu prefers to transfer the prime minister to Gideon Saar or Naftali Bennett, it will be easier for him than for one of his party's senior officials. Netanyahu does not discuss the possibility and does not think about it. However, because this is a relatively reasonable plan, which could turn out for Netanyahu at the last minute to kneel in the minority compared to the other options, there are those who have already fought for it, even before it went on the air.
But this is not the only thing that concerns Likud members. After the previous time there were no primaries for the composition of the list for the Knesset, the MKs and the other candidates, it is clear that this time, in the fifth election, primaries will be held, and conducted accordingly. Sure to come out at all, the atmosphere is a pre-primaries atmosphere, on full.
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