The debate between Smotrich and Likud regarding his role in the next government ignited a significant dispute within the right-wing camp, which hovered here for many years in a kind of unspoken subtext.
The hidden and visible message is that if the religious Zionist party does not fill the senior positions in the government, the government will not be right-wing.
Moreover, the voters of the camp who do not belong to the party of these seven mandates need guidance, not to mention supervision, in order to realize their true will.
This is how Daniela Weiss explained: "The people elected Netanyahu to promote right-wing policies, and this is why it is necessary to insist that Smotrich be appointed Minister of Defense."
Hagai Segal tweeted: "If Smotrich settles for a more modest portfolio than the security or the treasury, the chances of fulfilling the promises will shrink dramatically, and the Likud voters will also be demoralized."
And Zvi Sukkot shared an ad that says: "Bezalel, don't give up on values. We're all behind you!"
These statements echo the constant mantra of this faction, for whom Netanyahu is "not right-wing enough."
The fact that all of Netanyahu's national achievements for years did not satisfy him, and that on the other hand he continued to narrow the degree of Netanyahu's right-wing only to the Hebron agreement (even though even in that Netanyahu kept most of the territory, and later signed the reciprocity clause that actually stopped the Oslo agreements).
But this time the words also have a message for his voters: either you can't trust Netanyahu that his policies will be right-wing enough, or you yourself are not right-wing enough (and that's why you chose him).
Either way, the salve offered is the same - members of religious Zionism will guard the road for you.
They will represent the "values" in the next government, they will be its right-wing compass, and if Smotrich (for example) is not the next defense minister, then the Likud voters will not get to claim what they want either.
Like a new group of philosophers emerging from the governance of Plato's cave, they explain to us that they, and only they, hold the values, the ideological compass and the true balance.
If only we would give them the status they deserve, they would light the way for the rest of the blind voters to the light, outside the cave.
Because without their values, without their guidance, how will the Likudniks, the voters of the ruling party, succeed in walking the correct right-wing path?
Those people who did not break during five election campaigns, even though they acted against them by almost any means to cancel their democratic decision;
Those who paid the price of their boycott and disqualification for legitimate political cooperation, to the point of preferring the formation of a coalition with supporters of terrorism over them - they, are they spineless, or at the very least will remain blind, if not one satellite party shows them the way?
And Netanyahu, who did not break in the face of the pressures of the Clinton and Obama administrations, in the face of the forces of the left, the judiciary and the media in Israel - does he need the crutches of religious Zionism to learn to walk?
On the side of extensive patronage, the narrow ideological view stands out.
The thought that the boundaries of the right wing are drawn between Sheikh Jarrah and the Temple Mount, and between the settlement division and the high school yeshiva.
Is the essence of a "full-on" right-wing government only sectoral?
And what about broad national issues such as a free economy, maintaining the Jewish character of state education, and a host of strategic political moves to strengthen the position of the State of Israel - doesn't this fall under "the values we all stand behind"?
And we haven't even talked about the judicial system and the separation of authorities, which for some reason are no longer burning in the veins of those who claim the crown of the "true right", when they feel only a touch away from receiving the administration of Israel's lands.
It is understandable that the right-wing camp is heterogeneous and that there are sectarian parties in it, as in every camp.
And, it is clear that the participation of all the right-wing parties in the next government is important and even necessary for the realization of the common goal.
But the time has come to give up the view that permanently diminishes the national achievements of Netanyahu and the Likud and sees his voters as an ideologically confused flock in need of shepherds, reminiscent of the condescending compassion we received from the left for years.
When this happens, a new period of equal and true partnership is expected for the entire camp.
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