The picture of the lists running in the fourth round of elections in March is already quite clear. Anyone who could have slipped into any list – did so. Anyone who did not – tried to make his own list. In the end, we received on the one hand the fascist right led by Netanyahu, and on the other hand a series of lists such as Yesh Atid, Labor, Yisrael Beiteinu, Blue and White and others. Netanyahu is, as mentioned, a fascist right (after the connection with Itamar Ben Gvir it is even almost official), and those in front of him are not left, center or extreme left: all these parties are normative, with different emphases in their worldviews.
Naftali Bennett and Gideon Saar are decent people, representing the rules of the game of traditional politics as we have come to know since the establishment of the state. They are not different from each other. Both are for the Greater Land of Israel, for the settlements and for the continued holding of millions of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, without being given national self-determination or full and equal civil rights. These are positions similar to those of Menachem Begin’s Likud, which I had the honor of representing in the Knesset.
Begin, who even almost 20 years after his death still serves as a model for all of us for fairness, sanity and clean hands, evaded the most essential and critical issue for the future of the State of Israel: the status of some of the territories that Israel took over in 1967. Following the dramatic waiver of Sinai as part of the Camp David Accords, Begin agreed that the territories of Judea, Samaria and Gaza would be part of Palestinian autonomy. What this autonomy means – it was difficult to understand. In reality, we continued to control the Palestinians.
This moral dilemma must have bothered Begin, a decent man who believed in the values of equality, justice and tolerance. But he did not give an answer to this distress. So did his son Benny, who now volunteered to help with the storm. Saar and new hope are the real Likud, as it was at the time for the father. The difference from Bibi is huge. They are decent. They are not crooks, they are not criminals, they are not greedy, they are not robbers of public property for private benefit. They are not racists and they are not fascists – Bibi does.
- 2021 Elections: All the polls, articles and interpretations of leading reporters on the Maariv website
Yair Lapid is not center, left or right. Is in between. A little wink to the left, a little smile to the right, a lot of nerds to the center. Is a bit of everything. Too bad. Had he allowed himself to be who he really is – he would have won this election and replaced Netanyahu. From a news presenter who everyone enjoyed questioning his abilities and adapting to political life, Lapid has come a long and successful way. He jumped into the Knesset in 2013 with 19 seats and has since weakened, then helped establish the blue and white that touched on victory, and later remained true to his promises and principles that guided him from the beginning.
Still, Lapid fails to cross the 20-seat line. If he had been a little more determined to stick to what he really believed in and not been tempted to believe that the Israeli public had become right-wing, if he had understood that the public wanted a replacement for Bibi and not someone who is a little Bibi – he would have taken off more. The public wants a leader who is not afraid to be what he is, who does not shy away from being perceived as unpopular, a leader who cares about the needs of the public and not his personal needs. I think Torch is like that, but he needs to show it.
More than any other candidate against Netanyahu in the last decade, Lapid has the best starting point in reaching the leadership. He will have to compromise with Saar, Avigdor Lieberman and Merav Michaeli and many others – and also cooperate with the joint list. It is a complex and fragile political acrobatics. It can be done. But what is currently preventing him from closing that gap, what is stopping him is his insistence on not being what he really is. He must say the most blatant things, stay away from the pretense of the right and the Likud – which is foreign to him and the legacy from which he came. He still has time to do so. Would he like to? Can he?
Yair Lapid, Chairman of Yesh Atid (Photo: Courtesy of Yesh Atid)# # #
And here in all this chaos there is one that should not change anything. She already insists on being who she is and has no intention of flattering anyone, neither on the left nor on the right. She is consistent, sharp, without hesitation and free from pretense – yes, this one Merav Michaeli.
She is not yet a candidate for prime minister, but seems to have managed to rescue the Labor Party from the bottomless pit into which it has sunk. The work under her leadership is seen in the polls (ask everyone to be treated with caution and with some doubt) as a party that will certainly get a proper representation in the Knesset, perhaps even more than it received in the last three election campaigns.
Michaeli’s track seems impressive and offers a kind of hope for the near future as well. One is asked why all the left-wing elements, all the commentators who want Netanyahu’s downfall, have decided to attack it, preach morality to it and beat it as if it were the main culprit in the fact that the center-left is not united. I do not understand how those who on the one hand complain all the time that the left is crushing itself and preventing the possibility of mobilizing the maximum number of votes to strengthen opposition to Netanyahu – are actually the first to join the purist chorus that hit Michaeli in the face.
What exactly is Michaeli guilty of? Should she apologize for making the Labor Party look more stable and strong in its leadership? If Meretz does not cross the blocking percentage, why not come to it with complaints that it insists on running – even though it might cause a dramatic loss of votes for the left-wing camp? True, Meretz is not a random collection of candidates but a party with tradition and heritage. One can understand the hesitation in dismantling such a political body. But what about the Labor Party? Does it have no heritage, tradition, history, crucial contribution to the building of the state before its establishment and since its establishment?
In general, why is it important now to deal with what Labor and Meretz did or did not do before submitting the lists? I believe that Meretz will survive the election challenge and pass the blocking percentage. I am convinced that Michaeli will lead the work to an impressive result compared to the previous election campaigns, and I believe that there is a good chance that Bnei Gantz will also receive the representation that will allow him to correct his and Gabi Ashkenazi’s big mistake when they joined Netanyahu. The rest, like Yaron Zelicha, are bizarre curiosities.
I’m more optimistic than some black mirrors. But what the hell do you want from Michaeli? Stop attacking her. It is still the most honest, most consistent and determined opposition to Netanyahu.