When Naftali Bennett finished serving as Prime Minister, he apologized to his party's activists for the fact that the position took up all his time and did not allow him free time for politics.
Now Yair Lapid feels it first hand.
In recent weeks, his people have been complaining that Lapid's dedication to the campaign is zero, and that the many meetings required of him as prime minister are seriously harming Yesh Atid's preparations for the elections.
Both Lapid and Bennett do not have the necessary experience to juggle the various needs and dance in several weddings at the same time.
The complete opposite of Benjamin Netanyahu, who not only knew how to allocate the time needed for the campaign, but also led it himself while running the country as prime minister.
Lapid's functional difficulty led his people to decide that, under the circumstances, the political campaign is the most possible and effective at the moment.
The role of the Prime Minister is the campaign, and the thing that brings out in a positive way the lofty role is the political issue, the friction with world leaders, glittering lounges and bombastic speeches.
Accordingly, the political calendar was quickly filled with a series of major political events, which will be the cornerstone of the Yesh Atid campaign in the upcoming elections.
Skipping journey.
Prime Minister Lapid, photo: Mark Israel Salem
The impetus was the visit of US President Joe Biden and Lapid's visit to Jordan. These days, the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry are working on a significant event to mark two years of the Abraham Accords, which will be held in one of the countries of the agreement, with the participation of the highest level of heads of state (in contrast to the Negev Conference, which was held about six months ago at a lower level of foreign ministers).The event is stirring these days and is still not finally closed. Lapid's office is pressing for its existence even before the elections.
An official visit to Morocco and possibly Egypt is also planned for Lapid during the election campaign (not a high chance that it will come to fruition), and in September, five days before Rosh Hashanah, a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, which will be accompanied by meetings with heads of state who will arrive in New York at that time for the the event
The position of Prime Minister is Lapid's campaign, and what best expresses the position is the political issue, the friction between the world's Jews. That is why those around him rushed to fill the calendar with a series of political events
Lapid's people, as in the staffs of Netanyahu and Gantz, believe that the elections will be decided on the votes of the "soft right".
The same two mandates of right-wing voters who are not interested in Netanyahu.
In this sense Lapid is at a disadvantage.
Also because his ability to form a government is less than Gantz's, at least as of now in the polls, and also because he is considered more left-wing and currently stands at the head of the left-wing camp in Israel.
Therefore he decided that adding Michal Shir to his list at this time would be a good idea.
Shir did not move to Lapid through Sa'ar's mediation or following his request.
Between Lapid and Sa'ar there are no ties of trust or close relations.
It was Shir who came to Lapid after she realized that she no longer had a place in her party after the union with Gantz.
Lapid knows that her electoral value is zero, she is not recognized by the public and she will not stand out in the list itself for the Knesset, certainly not in the top ten.
But in his estimation, the addition of a former Likudnik member, as a right-wing woman, may help him cultivate the image he is now interested in.
Taming the unruly
Netanyahu does not need to divide his time between the positions.
After all, the leadership of the opposition is not such a demanding position, but he nevertheless found himself dividing his time between the Likud primaries to deal with other problems, those with the ultra-Orthodox.
His main task in the last week was mainly to silence Moshe Gafni.
Even before the election campaign began, Gaffni uttered rants that greatly disturbed Netanyahu and his people, and from which it was implied that his commitment to the right-wing bloc had loosened.
When the statements continued even after the dissolution of the Knesset, Netanyahu's entourage entered a state of war.
The question of what Gafni will do after the elections concerns them less at the moment, but the need to prevent such statements now.
Attacking Gafni and driving him further away - impossible.
Therefore he and the rabbis around him had to be convinced.
Natan Eshel and Zavik Fleishman were recruited for the task, and even the journalist Israel Cohen, a commentator for the radio station Kol Brama.
The climax was in the meeting between Gafni and Netanyahu that took place this week.
The first one didn't want it to exist and you didn't understand the urgent need for it.
But Netanyahu insisted.
On Monday, Netanyahu met Goldknopf, the chairman of Agudath Israel, the Hasidic faction. He only met Gafni on Tuesday. In order not to offend him, the opposition chairman's office kept the photo from the meeting with Goldknopf for a whole day and released it only on Tuesday, along with the photo of Gaffney
As if both meetings took place on the same day.
The move illustrates the feeling of walking on eggs around Netanyahu when it comes to Gaffni.
The message delivered by Netanyahu at the meeting is clear.
The statements that it is possible to sit in another government harm both Torah Judaism and the right-wing camp.
There are two mandates that prefer to go with Gantz and not with me, Netanyahu said, but they will be forced to vote for Likud without a choice if they realize that the only option for Gantz to become prime minister is to go with Prime Minister and the joint list. This is a possibility that deters them much more. Gantz, Netanyahu added, understands this and is therefore careful to say that he is going with the ultra-Orthodox. We could have disproved it easily, if it weren't for the fact that the possibility of the ultra-orthedim going with Gantz is also heard by the ultra-Orthodox themselves, Netanyahu said, pointing directly at the man sitting across from him.
At the meeting, Netanyahu also warned Gafni against a split between Degel Torah and Agudat Israel, and said that one of the parties might not pass the threshold.
Netanyahu presented Gaffen with surveys and studies that were presented to him recently, from which it appears that Torah Judaism may lose its mandate if it is not resolute in its affiliation with the right-wing bloc.
They also show that Torah Judaism can increase its mandate from its current situation, if there is a maximum turnout of 81 percent of the vote among its supporters (a normal vote rate for this party).
The data shows that about 30 thousand people who support Torah Judaism did not come to vote in the last election (and they did in the elections before it) and that in the last year the number of voters increased by a natural increase by another 17 thousand.
Netanyahu's success this week was great.
Goldknopf and Deri declared that they would only go with Netanyahu and the right-wing bloc, and Gafni's ship also began to move in that direction.
In the estimation of Netanyahu's entourage, Gafni will not make such statements in the coming weeks, but they know that he should always have his finger on the pulse.
Gafni's motivation is different.
He sees going on the independent path he leads, which is detached from the right-wing bloc, as having electoral potential and not the other way around, that a singular pride has recently entered the activists that arouses the territory.
The problem is that it only happens with his faction - the Lithuanian.
The followers want Netanyahu.
Like the Snikim.
Gafni has a full stomach for Netanyahu, and this increased precisely in the last year, at their joint meeting in the opposition.
The last government did do this due to political constraints, but it was more liberated.
Each minister could control the affairs of his office without hindrance.
Completely opposite of the Netanyahu government.
In the Torah flag, they realized in the last months that loyalty to Netanyahu was suffocating them.
Now they want to break free.
Not sure they will be fully successful.
Not a plan as you requested
The second part of Netanyahu's agenda dealt with the Likud primaries.
In his estimation, the list for the Knesset can reduce or increase the Likud by about two mandates.
At first he thought of getting more involved.
He retweeted a tweet with a video interview of Gila Gamaliel and also had time to shoot a joint video with Galit Distel Atabrian, but then he stopped.
The flood of requests he received, the cries and shouts of those who also wanted public support, made it clear to him that he should stop it immediately.
Currently the only one that Netanyahu is helping and picking up phones to key activists asking to take care of him is Boaz Bismuth.
The political battle that the former editor of "Israel Hayom" undertook in an attempt to enter the Knesset was not an easy one.
Netanyahu wants him out of the top ten.
Barkat, photo: Gideon Markovich
He is running on the national list, the place where former ministers and current members of the Knesset run.
Each of them receives from the state 350 thousand shekels to compete.
The Likud voting pattern favors the incumbent MKs over new candidates. To be an external candidate for the faction on the voting list where only 12 candidates can be marked, is a difficult task bordering on the impossible.
Despite his decision not to express open support, take joint videos or raise shares and likes on the networks, Netanyahu indicated in general terms his wishes for the list.
Distinct right-wingers, no screamers and no suspects of future defections.
In other words: Yariv Levin, Amir Ohana, Ofir Akunis, Gila Gamaliel, Tzachi Hanegbi, Galit Distal, Eli Cohen Yoav Kish and Shlomo Karai in the face.
Outside of the ten, Netanyahu would like to see David Amsalem, Mai Golan, Miri Regev, David Bitan, Yuli Edelstein and of course Nir Barkat.
But Netanyahu's ability is limited.
Some of those he would like to see removed from the list, will screw up in high places.
This is also the case in the provinces.
In the south, Lior Katsav and Shimon Booker are quarreling, both loyal to Netanyahu, and the one who might win there is actually Shalom Danino, who is considered close to Gideon Sa'ar and is even supported by him behind the scenes.
There has already been much talk about the candidates for the Tel Aviv slot, and also about Netanyahu's attempt to block the candidacy of his uncle Naiad, partly through the failed exercise to place the candidacy of his advisor Yonatan Urich.
A day before the Likud primaries, the elections for the labor list will be held.
The interest in these elections originates mainly from inertia.
Decades of democratic tradition in a party with dozens of mandates have become a marginal reference to an esoteric party.
According to the polls, the Labor Party will enter a maximum of three men and three women into the next Knesset.
The interesting battle for the primaries is in the male arena.
At least one sitting MK will not be in the next Knesset among the four present: Amr Bar-Lev, Ram Shefa, Gilad Karib and Nachman Shai (who is not an MK but serves as a minister).
In fact, there is a good chance that two will find themselves outside.
The candidacy of Yair (Ya-Ya) Fink is causing quite a bit of sleep.
He is considered a strong candidate who may defeat one or two MKs and get ahead of them on the list. What wonder is he at the top of the Knesset members' elimination list?
On the other side, besides the leader, there are four women: Naama Lazimi, Efrat Raiten, Emily Moati and Abtisam Mara'ana.
The battle at the top is between Reitan and Lazimi.
There is no external candidate who threatens the incumbent MKs.
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