Naftali Bennett is the first kippah-clad prime minister in Israel's history but he got there by betraying principle for position, which is why he is the most hated politician in Israel among his spurned former allies in the religious bloc.
The success of Mansour Abbas represents a catastrophe for powerful interests everywhere. It is to be expected that interested parties with the power to act will work to sabotage him at all costs.
Though in certain cases, parties have crossed the line when the other side's victory was inevitable or in a time of national crisis, Bennett is doing so when there is an absolute majority for the Right.
It's safe to assume that regardless of the Akunis appointment, negotiations with Naftali Bennett aren't finished and will continue from where they left off.
The only way to form a government and avoid a fifth election is for the prime minister to make concessions.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and New Hope chief Gideon Sa'ar, with 13 Knesset seats between them, somehow expect that 30 Likud lawmakers will ignore their voters and help them unseat Netanyahu. It's hard to see how their plan is more than wishful thinking.
Gideon Sa'ar's resignation from the Likud and establishment of the New Hope party have made the right-wing camp more relevant than ever, leaving the other camp out in the cold. If this situation holds, we may yet see Telem head Moshe Ya'alon abandon his alliance with Lapid and join one of the parties on the Right.
Gideon Sa'ar's departure from the Likud could strengthen Netanyahu or bring Gantz closer to the premiership, or it could catapult Naftali Bennett into the prime minister's office.
The “Ingathering of Exiles” (Kibbutz Galuyot) that captivated the imaginations and steered the dreams of Jews through millennia of persecution, expulsions and massacre is for Haskel and his colleagues merely the name of a highway junction in Tel Aviv that they send protesters to block on a semi-regular basis.
Another parallel between Israeli and US politics is that in both countries, swing voters that move between the two warring political camps on the Left and Right have all but dried up.