Now, when he sees public sentiment leaning toward advancing the legal reform only with broad consensus and in favor of a unity government, the prime minister, whose pulse is tight on the polls, is equipping his people with messages of reconciliation.
Minister Ofir Akunis was most prominent in an interview over the weekend, when he said he would give up his position in favor of a unity government. The prevailing belief in the Likud is that both sentences were made at Netanyahu's discretion, and not just the last of the two.
The Knesset approved the cancellation of the reasonableness grounds
Akunis joins Minister Galant, who is pushing in this direction, MK Yuli Edelstein, Minister Avi Dichter, and MKs David Bitan and Eli Dellal. Minister Gila Gamliel also told her colleagues that she is no longer willing to lend a hand to unilateral legislation. The move, which was initially portrayed as a rebellion against Netanyahu in the Likud, is actually getting his support and push behind the scenes.
In closed conversations with Likud ministers and Knesset members into Shabbat, Netanyahu told them: "This is the time to calm things down with conciliatory messages." Public sentiment, as shown in polls published Friday by Israel Hayom, is steering Netanyahu away from Ben-Gvir's open-air salad bar and the winds of war.
Netanyahu held talks over the weekend with Knesset members and Likud ministers and asked them to calm things down, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In talks over the weekend, Netanyahu told ministers and Knesset members that talks with the opposition must resume. "We can't reach understandings with ourselves, we need the other side," he clarified. The message was clear: the prime minister is taking the reins. Will it succeed over time? Time will tell.
Everything is on the table
Likud ministers criticized the fact that on the day the reasonableness reduction legislation was enacted, Netanyahu was captured by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and did not control the situation. The change of direction over the weekend is a good omen for them.
Already today, Netanyahu will announce a project to connect the periphery to the center, via a railway network from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat. Later on, he is expected to hold discussions on artificial intelligence that Israel will lead and break through in the field going forward. He will bring high-tech to the top of his joy, as will the state of the economy.
Leadership is needed. Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Outside, too, there are opportunities waiting for Israeli calm. The messages from the United States could not have been clearer over the past two weeks: visas are within your reach, an agreement with Saudi Arabia is around the corner – just calm things down and the achievements Netanyahu can hold on to will be enormous.
In fact, the message in the polls was also seen by opposition leader Yair Lapid, who last week rushed to promote a compromise and was ahead of Gantz in the level of concessions he wanted to agree. The reason: The bustling Kaplan is supported by five devout seats: only two by Lapid, perhaps a little less, and the rest, as expected, by Meretz members in normal times.
The Israeli public, as initially reflected in Gantz's momentum, wants agreement and quiet. The protest in Kaplan will slowly give way to the most devout, if indeed Netanyahu directs the agenda away from legal legislation in favor of economic momentum. Both Gantz and Lapid will return to compete for the centrist electorate.
Gantz. Not interested in a unity government, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
And what about a unity government? Well, both the Likud and the opposition note that this is a fictional scenario. Gantz is not interested, and Netanyahu will not dismantle his government in favor of a hypothetical scenario.
"The door is open to Gantz," senior Likud officials said again over the weekend, "but the chances of him coming are nil." The goal for the next hot August is for the better, and as we go into recess from the stormy Knesset, there is one: to cool the public atmosphere.
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