No matter how you look at it, the Arabs are the ones who won the elections. It was the rampage of many of them that created the search for a national savior, in the form of Itamar Ben Gabir. At the same time, in their stupidity, the representatives of the Arab voters failed to run together and even sign surplus agreements.
It was the Arabs who gave Itamar Ben Gabir - not Bezalel Smotrich - his dramatic achievement, which was completely expected.
In the two months before the elections, at every turn, I encountered those who were not afraid to declare that for the first time in their lives they were on the path to greatness: religious, ultra-Orthodox, many secularists, and even those who are not necessarily identified with the right.
Ben Gvir's message is perceived as a kind of "no more" to the sense of destitution, fear and even national humiliation.
Ben Gvir
"No more", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
All those who tried to take Ben Gvir out of the camp should ask themselves how and why this happened.
Why did so many people decide to choose a man who waves a gun and promises to come in in the evenings.
And the truth is, they have excellent reasons for that.
This is a long-standing process, most of which took place during Benjamin Netanyahu's watch, but intensified during the "change" government's watch.
Long years of taking over the Negev lands, thefts from IDF camps, shooting at houses, rampages on the roads, even the murder and internal savagery in Arab society itself.
The most notable milestone took place in the pogroms in the cities involved in the "Guardian of the Walls", under Netanyahu, but since then it has only intensified.
Apart from the terrorism, the crime, the sponsorship fees, the burning of the buses, the crushing of the governments, what particularly worried and humiliated many Israelis, from both sides of the map, were the insolence and murder.
And in the face of the politicians who talk and do nothing effective, we got the man who rose to the occasion to put an end to it.
It is not clear what Binyamin Netanyahu will do, the man who created the governmental incompetence that shaped this phenomenon, but it is clear what the cry of the elections is - a cry that paradoxically left Bibi on the wheel, at least for the time being.
Netanyahu during his speech after the election results.
Still on the wheel, photo: Liron Moldovan
Riots in Acre during Operation Guard of the Walls (archive).
prominent landmark,
Old disconnection, new revolution
The end of Meretz's race is also crucially connected to the Arabs.
The numbers show that there is no more demand on the Jewish-Zionist side for the goods of those who intensively identify with the Arab side that is hostile to us, to the point of morbid revelations.
A trend that has reached its peak in recent weeks, in the distressed campaign of the one who was called to save the party - Zehava Galon.
Galon's identification with Arab aggression, pointing the finger of blame at the victims - the residents of the Jewish settlement - is a symptom of the party's overall approach. An approach that has finally lost touch with reality and with the majority of voters.
The vote for Mansour Abbas, on the other hand, expresses an opposite trend, which should be noted.
Five mandates, close to half of the Arab voters, clearly noticed that Abbas consistently declares his acceptance of the Zionist state's rules of the game.
The one who, unlike all the politicians of the Arab parties since the establishment of the state, does not seek to change Herzl's state but to integrate into it.
And despite that, and perhaps because of that, they put RAM on the ballot. This is no less than a revolution that has taken place for some of the Arabs of Israel. It must not be missed.
Galeon
no more demand
Netanyahu in a new reality
For the first time in his political life, Binyamin Netanyahu is standing with his back to the wall, with a coalition that will not allow him to continue doing what he has specialized in all these years - talking right and doing left.
His new government will be forced to make decisions on all the same issues he led in the past, contrary to the worldview of his new partners and many of his constituents.
It will be forced to deal with the terrorism of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, and to respond, for the first time since the Oslo Accords, decisively.
It will be required to immediately stop the takeover of the C territories that Bibi has overlooked in the past, and also - evacuate Khan al-Ahmar and his ilk.
It will have to stop the "strengthening" of Abu Mazen's authority, from Benny Gantz.
Netanyahu in his speech after the election results, photo: Liron Moldovan
For the first time, Netanyahu will have no choice but to legalize what are known as outposts - the young settlement that the Likud leader kept at bay throughout his previous leadership years.
Among other things, he will be required to adopt Judge Edmond Levy's report, and to regulate the general status of the lands and development in the Jewish State;
To open the deliberate barriers, which prevented the natural development of the Jewish settlement in the navel of the homeland.
And, of course, to say goodbye to his vision of establishing a Palestinian state in Israel.
It is understood that Bibi will have to deal with the crime and rampage in the Arab sector, and for the first time in his political life to show backbone and governance.
This is the ticket of his new partner - Itamar Ben Gabir, who will have to pay off the bill in order to survive politically.
But the particularly interesting minefield in Netanyahu's path will be dealing with the legal system.
After all, he defended, during most of his time as prime minister, the imperialist line of Judge Aharon Barak and let the department of high courts and prosecutors run the country.
In recent years, he has become the declared enemy of the entire system, because of his well-known personal motives.
But now the ship is steered by those who want to go much further - too far in my opinion - who will challenge him as well.
And we didn't say a word about his ongoing trial.
Welcome to Benjamin Netanyahu's new kingdom of torment.
Bar Ilan's speech.
Not anymore, photo: Michael Kemer
Netanyahu in a statement on the construction freeze in Yosh (Archive),
Shaked's clear voice
Tens of thousands of people left home or work on Tuesday, stopped all occupations and went to the polls to demonstrate.
They dropped a note that says B led by Ayelet Shaked, with the almost clear knowledge that this time they will not be able to get this party into the Knesset.
Despite this, they did not vote for another party nor did they stay at home.
It was important for them to voice, through the ballot, a clear voice of protest against all the other players, from all sides.
It burned for them to illustrate that the voice that Ayelet Shaked utters exists and is present.
His flare may be tiny this round, but it's here to stay.
This is a real right-wing voice, of the one who truly supports the integrity of the land and the strengthening of the settlement;
security and political determination;
Reforming the legal system and strengthening the democratic Jewish state.
But he despises Netanyahu's cult of personality and leniency towards corruption.
This is a voice that anxiously watches the growing ultra-orthodox dominance, fearing the collapse of the entire Israeli society.
A voice that also abhors extremism and coercion on the part of those who claim to represent religious Zionism.
Many Israelis, at least 15 mandates, share this set of ideas.
Some of them voted in the previous elections for Yemina and New Hope, this time they were scattered between the two blocs or did not vote at all, not sheltered under the wings of Ayelet Shaked because of incitement and deception.
But they haven't disappeared, they make up a camp with great potential.
The tens of thousands of people who cast B to the ballot keep the flame alive, until the day when it will return and burn in a big way.
Ayelet Shaked.
Here to stay, photo: Coco
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