Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu are going to elections. It sounds like the name of a movie, a rather unfunny comedy perhaps. On the surface, it's the price the public is paying for the current state of the political system, which unlike the past is full of novice Knesset members and, no less grave, extremely principled party leaders lacking political skill.
A day after the launch of mass inoculations, the news from the discordant political world isn't all that interesting. There's something absurd about Gantz's approach, in that despite everything Netanyahu has done he hasn't changed his mind about him and presents himself as this dangerous premier's overseer. Would Gantz or Lapid have led us to this historic day, as noted by the nurses administering the vaccine across the country just 10 months after the first infected person set foot in Israel?
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Benny Gantz was unable to imbue the Knesset members in his own party, and to the Left in general, with a sense of national objectives. The MKs breathing down his neck are narcissists, bloated with self-importance and seek only their own self-gratification.
Essentially, the prime minister pushed this unity government to the brink of collapse because he thought that people, as they tend to do the world over, would behave rationally and find solutions to problems. He apparently didn't take into account that by late December, Gantz will no longer be the shot-caller in his own party and won't be able to negotiate.
But the main reason for the present crisis is that Blue and White's leadership never acted as a good-faith partner in a national unity government. Instead, it was a bad marriage between two opposing governments. One represented by just 15 Knesset members; the other leaning on the MK's from the Right.
In this a-symmetrical situation lies the secret of Israeli politics. Fifteen MKs with exceedingly limited parliamentary reach, casting themselves as superior to the Likud, the prime minister and the Haredi parties. The self-confidence stems from Blue and White's partnership with those parties backed by the State Attorney Office, the High Court of Justice and the media. But the media is fickle and vengeful, and together with the Black Flag protest movement destroyed Blue and White in the eyes of its own base.
Heading to elections on March 23 could completely wipe Blue and White off the political map. The party still has a few hours left on the political hourglass to sober up and stave off early elections. This imbroglio, however, seems irresolvable. Gantz could have been defense minister for four years; instead, he will be defense minister for less than a year. It's hard to see the difference between March and May or June.
With the legal fight against the prime minister looming in the background, the fight in this election will be between the "anyone-but-Netanyahu" coalition and the right-wing bloc. The surge of voters toward Gideon Sa'ar, according to recent polls, could suggest the political map will retain its current balance. Such is the wisdom of the voter. The Likud, the party of the people, will be the largest party. But the question is whether this time, the voter will revoke the veto powers of the "anyone-but-Netanyahu" parties.
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