It was a real horror show. I opened the Prime Minister’s official Facebook page this week to see another episode in the series “The whole world calls me to ask how to make such a successful closure” and I came across Benjamin Netanyahu who is unable to control his nerves. For the first five minutes, the cynical and professional side of me also thought that this was a show and that the man had come to send a message of emergency to the audience, including signaling to Bnei Gantz that he would leave his political nonsense and work until Sunday midnight. And maybe on the way a few more people will be startled by his words and the sight of his irritated face – and will want to get vaccinated.
But it went on and on and at some point I realized he was not playing. The prime minister stood on his usual podium, serious-minded, sweaty, and occasionally even tripped on his tongue – something that does not characterize Netanyahu’s brilliant speaker, looking at the small crowd of journalists in front of him, and his gaze jumped non-stop almost without straightening towards the cameras. “Our son also hit the mutation, it’s a huge spread!”, He announced and his voice trembled.
Netanyahu at the beginning of the cabinet meeting on extending the closure and the British mutation
Immediately after the end of this strange broadcast, I picked up the phone to one of the Prime Minister’s associates. “Did you notice his condition? What is he going through? Was it real or for the sake of reinforcing the message? “A heavy sigh was heard at the other end of the line.” The corona devoured us all the cards, but really all the cards. We were sure that the vaccination campaign would bear fruit and we will see amazing results in the run-up to the election – and boom! These damn mutations came and destroyed the whole business. The country has been in closure for a month, the whole country is in a frenzy, but nothing is happening. Same numbers, same situation and say thank you we did not reach hundreds of dead every day.
“Ototo all the guys, from Bennett to Lieberman inclusive, will run to tell the public that Bibi did not close Ben Gurion Airport in time and introduced all these variants because of which the voters are dying like flies to us!”. Not only the failure of Ben Gurion Airport and the fear of the round that the political competitors may make about it. It is the virus itself, which has already claimed victims not only mentally but also in the political world around the world. It is not clear for example whether without the corona and plague management, the place where Donald Trump now resides would have been on his Florida estate or still in the White House.
- 2021 Elections: All the polls, articles and interpretations of leading reporters on the Maariv website
Even before the election, Netanyahu dreamed of a successful conversion of the peace agreements into unprecedented political capital at the height of the campaign. Could there be a better and more successful election campaign than a glorious and well-publicized political visit to an Arab country that has become an enemy of a warm friend thanks to you? The messengers were sent, the talks were conducted, the plans were delayed. As we first published in Maariv at the end of November, Netanyahu wanted to arrange a political visit to Cairo. Meeting with President al-Sisi, promoting economic cooperation and other impressive news. Not to mention the grand program of the first gala tour of its kind in the Gulf states, which was initially planned as a series of visits to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, all wrapped up in a package that includes opening embassies, speeches, applause and trumpets in the Arab style. And what about the rare visit to Israel of another new and warm friend, the King of Morocco? This too was destroyed by the damn corona, this too can not be carried out when you run between mutations like between raindrops and you do not know if the vaccines are still effective or the South African mutation has already connected to its British friend, and the game just starts from scratch. Meanwhile, the violations from the bounce and the mass funerals of the ultra-Orthodox public caused him to be portrayed as a selective enforcer, and some of the public outrage was directed at him as well, so Netanyahu has the most justified reasons in the world to be upset and annoyed. Not only while announcing the continued unpopular closure, but also around the clock.
In the current election campaign, the biggest threat for Netanyahu comes not from the left-wing camp or even from the rivals in the right-wing camp, but from the cruel and invisible enemy named the Corona virus. He is the one who forces Netanyahu to act against all the rules of the political game he knows and knows better than anything else in his life (perhaps except for the English language). It is the virus that is pushing the prime minister to prolong the closure of the economy more and more, to cause more and more people to lose their livelihoods, their whole world and may even have lost faith in those who voted for him, until the virus came and with it the closures. Where are the good times of free populism and election economics? Even the corona grant is already easy to secure and difficult to maintain. Netanyahu, just like the rest of the leaders of the free world, was captured by the Corona. Only that unlike them, for him it comes during the election period most unsuitable for the unpopular steps.
Bennett did not interfere
And yet this past week has given Netanyahu not only reasons for pressure and sadness, but also new hope (and no, this is not the intention of the party led by Gideon Saar). What did not work for him twice, this time succeeded. The great alliance in the knitted segment of the political map has become a reality through close mediation managed by Netanyahu himself with the help of some of his associates and emissaries. He dreamed of it a year ago: a match between two crocheted kippah wearers, between two young, talented and ambitious politicians, between Bezalel Smutrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. In the past, this effort has failed twice because of Naftali Bennett’s tough stance. As long as Bennett and his party were part of the joint game, Ben Gvir’s fate was doomed to crash on the blocking percentage cliff. No effort and no persuasion helped: for the liberal Bennett, the suitor of the non-religious audience, Ben Gvir was and remains assigned because of his body, an extremist who must not be approached. Although in the eyes of an average secular voter there is no difference between Smutrich and Ben Gvir (both Doss settlers). With the former Bennett was not afraid to run on a joint list, while the latter blocked his body as long as he could.
This time the obstacle named Bennett was no longer there, and Netanyahu did not give up. “This time, every vote determines, no matter what, Ben Gvir will not run independently,” the prime minister memorized to his associates. He pressured Smutrich personally, had many conversations with him – and on Wednesday evening it happened. According to all the polls, Smutrich and Ben Gvir secured seats in the next Knesset, but above all, the successful match promised Netanyahu between 4 and 5 more seats in the bloc that supports him. Not 61 yet, but very close. The union between Ben Gvir and Smutrich brought Netanyahu closer to his next coalition, and removed the State of Israel from the possibility of a fifth election.
The big secret that unites the two is that neither Smutrich nor Ben Gvir see themselves only as “politicians from the sector.” A fact that can certainly surprise that average secularist who sees no difference between them and considers them an automatic for hill youth and nothing more. Entering the Knesset is only a minimum plan. Smutrich’s (and to a large extent Ben Gvir’s) plan is to concentrate and become a kind of “Bennett,” only more successful on his way to the image of the supra-sectoral politician. That is why it was so important for the head of the Religious Zionist Party to issue a fairly dry statement, a few minutes after the signing of the agreement with Itamar Ben Gvir, and to emphasize in the thickest letters possible the phrase “technical block”.
The Ministry of Transportation knows how to tell that during Smutrich’s time as Minister of Transportation, they rediscovered it. The professional echelons, many of whom are the clear voters of the left-wing parties, were very impressed with the performance of the energetic minister and even claimed that they would be willing to vote for him in the next election. This week, as mentioned, he signed the agreement that increases his chances of entering the Knesset, and for him this is the first step towards the big takeoff.
For the Likud and for Netanyahu, the beautiful achievement of the union on the right is still not enough. To reach a coalition (and given the assumption that Bennett will “do it again” and join the Netanyahu government), the prime minister needs to increase the Likud’s power. The same “2 seats that differentiate us from victory” that he recently talked about with each and every one who are in his vicinity. For Netanyahu, this is also a kind of race against the virus. In the arena of the Corona War he may lose and fall, but in the political arena, if he does not make mistakes, if the right people are included and bring with them not only their name but also the votes – the Likud has the potential to rise. Netanyahu knows this well, which is why this time he is so concerned about the quality of the armor. In recent days, the Likud rumor mill has been working overtime. Every name and name is weighed, examined, measured and studied through a magnifying glass. Orly Levy-Abacus – Yes or No? On the one hand, many object. On the other hand, after Sharfi Ben Sheetrit, former deputy mayor of Beit She’an, declared his support for Saar, the Likud party needs to strengthen its position, and who will give it to the Likud if not the extensive and powerful Levy family in the region?
The courtship of the Arab sector has not abated, even after the recent polls somewhat lowered Netanyahu’s enthusiasm: not 3 seats and not 2, but only one seat circulating there, in Arab cities and villages. In the current situation, when any mandate can be the one to decide, Netanyahu is not willing to give up and intends to give Mansour Abbas personal treatment. The new Ma’an party, led by Muhammad Drawsha, which is ready to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people and aspires to enter not only the Knesset but also the government, is already under close scrutiny by the Likud chairman. The lists have been closed – the big race for the coalition has begun.