Minutes after the Knesset's dissolution, somewhere way back when in the spring of 2019, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed out to the reporters waiting in the halls of the Knesset to announce that, given Avigdor Lieberman's refusal to enter a right-wing government, the Yisrael Beytenu party chief would now be considered a member of the Left. Yet despite the logic of his remarks, no one in the political system took Netanyahu's assertion seriously. Given the image he has spent years cultivating, Lieberman is considered an honorary member of the extremist Right, right up there with Yamina's Bezalel Smotrich and late Moledet party founder Rehavam Ze'evi.
The Likud has tried with all its might to crack the code behind this image; to analyze Lieberman's voters and convince them in various ways to abandon an over 20-year voting habit and switch to other parties – albeit without success. In fact, it would be more precise to call these efforts an absolute failure. Lieberman's voters, a majority of whom hail from the former Soviet Union, have gotten used to obeying their leaders in almost any situation.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
What reality has been unable to achieve, the Likud will have no chance of succeeding at either. Lieberman's voters are not fools. They know very well that his campaign, which changes every election, is full off empty promises and bombastic slogans: Lieberman did not take out Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. He has not solved the very charged issue of conversion, a major issue for immigrants to the country. He did not promote the death penalty for terrorists. He did not pass legislation that set loyalty to the country as a condition for Arab Israeli citizenship, and he did not solve the pension and housing problems plaguing the immigrant sector. And the list goes on.
What the Likud doesn't seem to understand is that, despite these failures, Lieberman's voters remain loyal and obedient. The Russian-speaking immigrant public has enough experience from their countries of origin to know that a leader can be a manipulator and a charlatan, and yet still be considered a strong and fearful leader. He can play with them and betray their values, but they will not turn their backs on him. They will follow him blindly, as they have done for over 20 years now, even after having being disappointed by Lieberman time and again. They do not want a left-wing government, but as soon as Lieberman says he is on the Right, they are with him. And that is just a fact. According to the polls, Lieberman has been able to maintain his voter base, and that is after they witnessed him prevent the establishment of a right-wing government with their own eyes. They stayed with him even when he announced he would not necessarily recommend Netanyahu for the role of premier and said that Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was also a possible candidate for the job. No, they didn't even abandon him when he signed a surplus vote-sharing deal with Blue and White, in what is possibly the most significant declaration of intent one could make in the run-up to an election.
Agreeing to disagree
A surplus deal symbolizes, first and foremost, a certain sense of closeness between the two parties. After all, taking votes from one party in order to increase the size of another is no simple matter. Someone who votes for Shas knows that, should there be any surplus votes, they will go to its sister party – United Torah Judaism. And the surplus votes from Yamina, formerly the United Right, can go to the Likud. That is also how these parties are able to work together in a coalition government.
But what interest do Yisrael Beytenu voters have in growing Blue and White with their surplus votes? After all, they belong to the opposite camp. Lieberman has always associated himself with the Right while Blue and White is the leading party of the leftist bloc. After signing the deal, the Yisrael Beytenu leader claimed this was a technical agreement only. This can only be true provided both parties belong to the same camp and intend to be part of the same coalition anyway. It appears that Lieberman, in one breath, revealed his plans for the composition of the next government, not that this will prevent him from continuing to call himself a member of the Right or his voters from following him whichever direction he takes them.
'You will be our Ariel Sharon'
The haredi city of Elad is situated between Highway 6 and the Green Line. Since its establishment, the city has offered alternative affordable housing to its ultra-Orthodox residents, along with a certain distance from the crowds of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. Naturally, the city has hundreds of yeshivas, synagogues, and mikvehs for the benefit of its residents. According to assessments, some 40% of the built-up land in the city is covered in various religious structures that serve the local population.
It should also be noted that, due to its population, Elad has one of the highest rates of military draft dodging in the country.
At any rate, demand for housing in the city very quickly outpaced supply, and Elad's haredi residents demanded the state authorize the expansion of its municipal territory to allow for the construction of additional housing and religious facilities. But due to Elad's location, the only place left to expand was a military firing zone that bordered council land, and the military fiercely opposed any move that would see the land expropriated from the Israel Defense Forces and transferring to Elad's haredi residents.
Ever since the 1980s, IDF heads have refused to cede the territory. This is a training zone where live fire is used, they claimed, and its expropriation could harm operational preparedness. For political reasons, few defense ministers ever even promised to deal with the issue. That is until the two years in which Lieberman served as defense minister.
At that time, Lieberman's ties with the haredi factions were more important than the IDF's operational needs. In one of the meetings Lieberman held with United Torah Judaism MK Yakov Asher on the matter, the haredi lawmaker told him, "You will be the bulldozer of the haredi public. We will think of you the way we think of [late Prime Minister Ariel] Arik Sharon. He established half a city, and now you can be the one that establishes the other half, if you just force the military to give up on the territory."
That was all it took. In a move that contravened the operational opinion of the IDF's relevant commanders, Lieberman expropriated the territory for the benefit of the haredi city. Some 3,600 housing units and dozens of haredi yeshivas and synagogues are currently in the planning stages.
At an impressive ceremony in Elad in August of 2017, and attended by the heads of haredi factions and rabbis, Lieberman was honored by Elad Mayor Yisrael Porush. Ahead of the ceremony, Lieberman was the guest of the city's Torah Betifarta Yeshiva, where he delivered a moving speech to some 700 students for whom the defense minister's visit is the closest they will ever get to the IDF.
Nothing to see here
A smirk could be detected on the faces of senior Blue and White officials following the news lawmakers from the backbenches were raiding the radio stations this week, swearing up and down to their interviewers that no, there is no crisis within the party leadership and that the party's four leaders talk for hours every day.
The pointed denials, including of the report a private firm hired by Blue and White found a Yesh Atid MK to be behind a series of leaks coming out of the party, have only contributed to the sense of the drama taking place behind the scenes and the extent of the chaos running rampant in a party that up until recently, was largely considered to be destined for power according to the polls.
Cabinet ministers this week criticized Gantz, who as IDF chief of staff during 2014's Operation Protective Edge demonstrated hesitation and indecision. And as if to justify this criticism, Gantz has been responding the same way to these report of there being moles in the party. For days, Gantz was silent.
Blue and White was shocked to learn that a private intelligence firm was hired without their knowledge, furious that the private firm was supposed to expose moles from Yesh Atid, and embarrassed when it turned out that the investigation was ordered following a complaint from MK Omer Yankelevich – a member of Gantz's inner circle – following her claim that someone was following her and gathering information about her in order to use it against her and maybe even against Gantz himself.
Yankelevich's complaint was detailed. According to the MK, these were professional investigators who were hired with the aim of collecting information that would benefit their political rivals. Gantz took the information and translated it into his own investigation into senior members of Lapid's Yesh Atid party, without, of course, informing Lapid.
Seeing as Gantz and Lapid are interested in leading the country through a rotation agreement, the recent revelations could be an issue for some of their potential voters. A few group hugs and photos of party leaders smiling together from ear to ear may not be enough to disguise the disgust these two have for one another this time around. And if they do, it will only last until the next revelation is made.
Shaked
A report in Haaretz, according to which Ayelet Shaked offered Netanyahu immunity from an indictment as part of her attempts to be incorporated into Likud, caught the Yamina leader off guard. Shaked is not used to the kind of personal attacks being directed her at this time. As justice minister, Shaked took a beating from the Left but in such a way that served her politically and contributed to the image of a judicial reform hero she was nurturing for herself. In time, Shaked used those same left-wing attacks for benefit of the New Right's election campaign, with the advertisement that saw her model a faux "Fascism" perfume with the tagline: "Only Shaked can defeat the court."
This time, though, the report doesn't serve her interests. In fact, it is doing some serious damage at the height of the election campaign by revealing her hectic efforts in recent months to be integrated into the Likud's ranks as Netanyahu's reserved slot for the Knesset list.
Regardless of whether Shaked made such an offer, or someone did so in her name without her knowledge, the report has dealt Shaked a major blow. A party head doesn't need her voters to be reminded in the middle of an election campaign that they are only there because Option A didn't pan out.
At a time when the Likud is attacking Yamina, explaining that the only correct way for someone on the Right to vote is for Likud, how can the leader of the right-wing parties fight back when she herself did all she could, and up until the very end, to be allowed back into the Likud's ranks?
Cohen's 'J'accuse'
Attorney Danny Cohen formerly served as Labor's legal adviser, and until Amir Peretz's election as party chairman, was also his secret adviser in his battle against former party chief Avi Gabbay. When Peretz demanded an election be held among Labor Committee members, something Gabbay opposed, it was Cohen who filed a petition in the name of anonymous party activists demanding just that.
But now that that mission is complete, Cohen is taking Peretz to task for the direction he is taking the party.
In an open letter posted to social media, Cohen listed the failures he believes will lead to Labor's disappointing showing in the election.
"You are wrong time and again," Cohen wrote. "You were wrong when you met with [former Prime Minister Ehud] Barak. You were wrong when you entered negotiations with Meretz. You were wrong to form an alliance with [Gesher party leader] Orly Levy[-Abekasis]. You are surrounded by yes men. You and the Labor party are victims of the manipulations of failed politicians from the Right. Like Gabbay, you have set yourself up to be hated."
"You are now the 'unskilled worker' serving Yvet Lieberman, Benny Gantz, and Yair Lapid without compensation/pay. (Blue and White even preferred a surplus deal with him.) At best, you become a statistic in the game. The power is in Lieberman's or Gantz's hands, and you and the Labor party have now become marginalized. Get out of this corner! Gantz-Lapid are enemies! Lieberman – an enemy! Barak Meretz – enemies! Fight for your status and the status of the Labor party!"
Cohen concluded by calling on Peretz to "get up and declare that the Labor party is the deciding factor and not Lieberman. There will be no more elections after this election. There will be no horrifying waste of some 2.5 billion shekels [$710 million] needed by the citizens just because of Lieberman's war to make it to the premiership. There will not be another shameful round of Gantz-Lapid, who have yet to decide what they are. We will no longer leave the government captive to the radical Right: Smotrich-Ben Gvir-Rabbi Peretz. As long as Netanyahu and the Likud win, the Labor party will be a potential partner to join the government!"
