“Just Not Bibi” Party: Lieberman’s Spin

If I was not aware of the degree of personal hatred between Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu, I might still think that the proposal of the chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu for a joint run with Saar, Bennett and Lapid came straight from Balfour. I have no doubt that Netanyahu’s advisers Sit after Lieberman.

How much irrationality there is in this move for the bloc that opposes the continuation of Netanyahu’s rule. When it comes to connecting two close parties the question is always asked whether the whole is greater than its two parts. For example, would it have been better for Israel’s resilience to unite in time with Yesh Atid and establish Blue and White, or would each of the lists have been able to obtain more seats for the bloc separately.

If it was a proposal for a joint run of Bennett’s and Saar’s parties, one could still think of a benefit in the essay. Even if it’s a connection between Lieberman and Saar. But in this case it is a matter of connecting different ends of the political map that may mainly drive away potential voters to other and well-known parties.

According to the polls, a bloc of Bennett-Saar-Lapid-Lieberman reaches about 54 seats when they run separately. Does anyone think that connecting them together can really lead to a party coming to this area? Is such a party capable of reaching more than 40 seats – a number that has not been seen in Israeli politics since the Labor Party in 1992?

A large part of Bennett’s voters are not Netanyahu’s haters, but people with a clear right – wing ideology, who are not interested in Netanyahu’s argument – not Netanyahu’s. A significant number of them prefer Netanyahu dozens of times over Lapid. If Bennett had accepted the proposal of the chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu and joined Lapid, he would at that moment have returned some lost seats to the Likud or at least to the party that would have risen to his right.

And if we say that Yair Lapid is affiliated with Bennett, how many seats will his voters be willing to vote for Bennett and how many will make a U-turn and move left to Meretz or a new party led by Huldai that may yet arise.

And let’s talk for a moment about the practice of the move. Who will head the union? Will it be the chairman of the opposition, Lapid, or perhaps an assault that is currently gaining the most seats? Perhaps it is the older and more experienced Lieberman in the group or Bennett, who until recently was defense minister?

And what about the rude word called ideology? What connects the lists other than “just not Bibi”? Here are some issues I would be happy to hear the list’s opinion on: public transportation on Saturday, the overcoming clause, the regulation of outposts in Judea and Samaria, the Judicial Selection Committee, conversion, sovereignty application, nationality law.

And maybe what’s behind Lieberman’s proposal is actually something else. The recent polls since Sa’ar’s retirement from the Likud did reduce many seats for Bennett, but they also quietly hurt Lieberman. In a News 12 poll yesterday it dropped to just 6 seats. With an aggressive campaign by Netanyahu on the one hand and by the members of the “Rak La Bibi” bloc on the other, Lieberman may reach the dangerous area of ​​the blocking percentage.

The man who previously served as foreign minister and defense minister suddenly finds himself gone. He is out of the political game. Now he has to reinvent himself. And what’s better than a hopeless spin that returns it to the headlines for at least a few hours?