After the faltering negotiations with the political partners, Binyamin Netanyahu at the same time began to deal with Likud members as well, in a series of personal meetings with all the Knesset members, most of whom he had not met since the elections. Netanyahu set two major tasks for himself: the appointment of a Knesset Speaker to his liking, who would receive his approval the faction by secret ballot with an enormous majority, and disbanding a rebellion of the indignant by the action of the mule and a rule that is very dear to him. It didn't work for the partner parties, it only complicated things, but Netanyahu intends to do it in Likud. It is difficult to deal with four disgruntled people in a coalition of 64, but with one or two - no problem.
The question is which of them Netanyahu would prefer to fight and which to repel.
The bet right now is on Israel Katz and Dodi Amsalem, at the expense of David Bitan and Nir Barkat.
Things can still change.
Likud has 17 ministers out of 32 members of the Knesset, in addition to the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and the Chairman of the Coalition. The number of deputy ministers can easily reach four or five. There are several more committee heads for the new MKs, And maybe later a position or two outside the Knesset.
Will the Prime Minister signal the seriousness of his intentions regarding the judicial system? Netanyahu and Levin, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In order to easily succeed in appointing his candidate for Speaker of the Knesset and to pass the Deri Law, and other laws required for the partnership request even before the swearing in of the government, Netanyahu will not tell the Likud members at this stage what position they are intended for, so as not to harm the chances of passing these hurdles easily. The stage that everyone expects To find out and make a decision is the best time to reap achievements in the faction and in the Knesset.
The end of the saga of appointing the next Minister of Justice will put an end to many questions that have been directed at Netanyahu and his people since the elections, in order to know where he is headed in this charged area.
An appointment like Yariv Levin, Amir Ohana or Dodi Amsalem will be interpreted as a challenge to the judicial system.
For the first time since the constitutional revolution that Aharon Barak imposed on the country, and since the court annulled for the first time a definitive law of the Knesset in 1995, the Israeli justice system will be forced to fight for its life.
It should be appreciated that she will do this with all the means at her disposal, such as will cause "Alihum" on Avi Maoz and the intention to give him the unit for enrichment studies in the schools to pale.
The judicial system has quite a few means to protect itself.
From the world of academia, through the retired judges, the court reporters who are in most of the mainstream media, and of course members of the opposition.
Everyone will climb the barricades to stop the planned and reality-bound changes.
The coalition, on the other hand, has its own weapon: a majority in the Knesset and a majority in the public.
Contrary to popular opinion, despite the homogeneous incoming coalition, a majority of 61 seats is never automatically achieved.
Not for every law that the High Court rejects and the Knesset wants to restore will all the members of the coalition stand as one person on the other side. It depends on the issue. It depends on political, party and personal interests. And the coalition, whose members have had enough time to fight on almost every issue, including the powers of the Reforms Committee in the Knesset and the right to veto appointments A city rabbi - and this is even before they even took office - just proves it.
But Netanyahu can also appoint another minister of justice, and signal to the justice system that he was and remains its central protective wall.
This will signal that he will turn to peace (and a new plea deal) and not to war against the system.
But then another front may open for him, in front of the coalition partners who demand dramatic changes.
Netanyahu will have to choose which war is better for him to wage.
Mission Statement
While the official USA makes it clear that it will not boycott Israeli ministers but will deal with them in accordance with their actions after they take office, the preparations in the White House and the State Department for the new government are at their peak. President Joe Biden remembers very well Ron Dermer's vigorous actions against the Democratic Party during the Barack Obama administration, and Netanyahu's speech in Congress, from which he was demonstratively absent. The arrows have not been shot yet, but are already in the positions.
The statement of intent was issued even before the right-wing government took power.
Starting with the FBI's investigation against IDF soldiers in the case of the death of Shirin Abu Aqla, an Al Jazeera journalist, through Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's participation in the J Street conference, an organization banned by Israel, to warnings against changes in the legal definitions of Yosh areas.
The US has a series of measures that it can implement, at will, against Israel - both in the international arena, in the UN and elsewhere, and also in the internal arena, with media briefings against the government, and more.
Here too - as in dealing with the judicial system - the new government will have to perform some difficult maneuvers, without giving up the values and the possibility of making large-scale changes in areas that have been neglected in recent years.
These include, among other things, the young settlement in the territories, the demolition of the illegal Arab buildings in Area C, the cancellation of the disengagement in northern Samaria, and ending with the reduction of the damages of the Oslo Accords, which have been harming the way of life of the settlers for many years.
A problem and her name is Netanyahu
Naftali Bennett didn't wait for the incoming government to act, cancel the position of the alternate prime minister and send him home, but hastened to do it even earlier.
His departure was not easy, to say the least.
Nothing of what he planned, and of what made him in the first place go to the inclusive process of establishing his and Lapid's rotation government, happened.
He was sent home without a camp, without a public and without support, except for a few leftists who still thank him for helping them move Netanyahu.
Although Bennett was wrong from the first moment, his error was based on a working assumption that was common among all the candidates for prime minister in the last two decades: that with the position comes support, that a few months in the position are enough to transform from a gray or marginal figure into a leader capable of taking the reins.
He relies on the case of Ariel Sharon, whose run for the leadership of the Likud seemed to his friends like a delusion of grandeur that afflicted him during his election.
However, from the moment he became prime minister, he managed to lead the party to a record achievement of 38 mandates in the elections two years later.
Ehud Olmert, who emerged from 32nd place in the Likud, succeeded by being appointed to the position of the Prime Minister's Consolation Officer to enter the right office, transform his image as a political bully from the back benches into a prime minister in his own right, and lead his party to victory after only a few months in office.
Bennett was sure his fate would be similar.
that at first they will be angry, shout, accuse him of fraud and deceit, but over time they will get used to it.
As with his predecessors, the position will do the job.
But as time passed and his popularity not only did not increase but even decreased, Bennett began to realize that something was wrong.
that somewhere along the way the process was miscalculated.
The "poison machine" theory against Netanyahu's camp was attributed throughout his years in office to his close advisor, Shamrit Meir (who denied the allegations).
By then Bennett was right on the other side.
On the side of the accused, the aggressor.
It was not easy for him to turn the tables and go to the side of the accuser.
But the idea according to which there is a coordinated mechanism of a propaganda machine, of a well-oiled machine that operates outposts in social networks and the mainstream media, as an explanation for his collapse in public opinion, put his mind to rest.
He, Bennett, is not to blame for this, but only Netanyahu.
The national instigator.
The one who operates oiled systems of tweeters and social network activists, and also protesters and curses mercenaries who disobey him and poison the discourse in the public sphere - real and online.
Meir left with a slamming door, after she quarreled with other senior members of the bureau, and even managed to be interviewed against Bennett himself in the media.
They were disconnected for a few months until they began to trace their way back.
Recently, the two began working on publishing a joint book, which requires many hours of work together, and a return to the days when they worked closely together when Meir was the most powerful woman in his environment.
The plan was to release the book within a few months.
The assumption was that even the last elections would not be decided and that Israel would once again be dragged into electoral systems or faltering and unstable governments, which would allow Bennett to be wounded again soon.
But the clear decision and the realization that there probably won't be elections in the coming years, made Bennett and Meir rethink the project.
Several sources who know Bennett well this week wondered if the series of lawsuits he announced, against those who published false defamations against him, comes from the same motivation for writing the book: the attempt to give meaning to his tenure, and to establish a legacy of fighting poison, lies, and fake news that taint the political culture, his perception .
He believes, to this day, that Netanyahu activated a poison machine that should not only be complained and complained about, but eradicated.
Or as he wrote on his Telegram channel: "I am not fighting for myself, but for everyone who wishes to correct the public discourse in Israel."
Bennett and Meir do not talk about the book, and most of their surroundings are isolated from the subject.
Meir vehemently denies that she has any connection, even if indirect, to the campaign of lawsuits that Bennett is currently conducting, and states that as far as the book is concerned, there is nothing new.
Bennett's defendants on Twitter and elsewhere did indeed write harsh things, which probably go beyond the scope of legitimate criticism of elected officials.
To spread that 50 million shekels of security expenses for his home were pocketed, or that his mother is not Jewish because she was a reformist convert, these are false and devious claims, and the defendants will have to work hard to get out of the trial that will be conducted against them in the Peace Court.
self responsibility?
Yuk
Even though Bennett is a private citizen, the decision to embark on a campaign of personal lawsuits against personalities who are mostly anonymous is not easy.
The defendants may summon him, his wife and his family members, and even domestic workers and former office staff to testify, turning the event into a circus.
As of now, Bennett seems determined.
The former prime minister is not waiting for the book to be published to determine the "poison machine" narrative.
In an article he recently published in the New York Times, Bennett wrote, among other things: "After a year of progress, my government collapsed under the relentless pressure of public and social media protests. Arab members of parliament who joined my coalition with the goal of improving the socioeconomic future of Arabs Israelis were called traitors in their hometown, and so were some members of the right. Organized groups set up tents just meters from the homes of the members of the Knesset, relentlessly harassing their families for months, calling them supporters of terrorism.
"One of my party members reported that her husband's job was in danger and her children were being threatened at school... As a result, Ra'am suspended her membership in the government.
An Arab member of the Knesset from the Meretz party also temporarily retired, and in addition several members of my party stopped supporting the coalition.
The government under my leadership did a poor job in repelling the huge amounts of false information that were spread throughout Israel, this campaign was successful and brought my government to an end."
And what about his responsibility for his extreme unpopularity and the collapse of his government which served as the shortest government in Israel's history?
Not a word.
Maybe in a book.
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