Ice cream won't soothe prospects of fourth election - opinion

The country's political system is paralyzed, mired in the same ideological fractures that afflict the populace.

By DAVID BRINN
A Likud party election campaign billboard depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen above a billboard depicting Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, in Petah Tikva, Israel (photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)
A Likud party election campaign billboard depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen above a billboard depicting Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, in Petah Tikva, Israel
(photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)
My fingers have difficulty pushing down on the keyboard, as if a supernatural magnetic force is preventing the letters from joining together to form the two simple words:
F-O-U-R-T-H
E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N
But there they are. Heading into an unprecedented third election within a year, Israelis are getting resigned to the likelihood that they'll be going back to the polls once again in a few months, and maybe once again a few months after that. The prospects of receiving a 'third time glidah' – free ice cream – does nothing to help the sorry situation go down more smoothly.
Nothing seems to be able to turn the dial to give a definitive majority to either the Right, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, or the Left, led by Blue and White's Benny Gantz: not the opening of Netanyahu's trial on March 17 (two weeks after the election); not last week's flareup in the South which saw another rocket onslaught on Israeli communities; not even the butter shortage.
The country's political system is paralyzed, mired in the same ideological fractures that afflict the populace. We're a bunch of tribes, thrown together because of a common heritage or geography, but little else. And with each election, it seems that everyone's digging their heels further into the noxious muck that once used to be the fertile soil upon which the Zionist pioneers built this country.
Witnessing the latest mudslinging – full of exposed tapes revealing the gamut from calling Gantz a danger to the people of Israel to admitting that the Likud campaign policy is united around hate – it's clear that we're far from heading toward higher ground.
The issues and challenges facing Israel have fallen by the wayside, buried by vindictive personal attacks, juvenile name-calling and political ambition. And the moral direction of the country has been lost in the process.
The astonishment over the fact that party polls indicate that the bloc which will win the most mandates is led by an incumbent prime minister about to stand trial over charges that could see him sent to prison, is matched only by the shock that the main challenger has been unable to convince enough voters there's something wrong with that.
Like the Ever Ready Bunny, Bibi has tirelessly crisscrossed the country cajoling, imploring and just grinding down the will of those who may be sitting on the fence, either thinking of sitting out this round or defecting from Likud. Like the master tactician he is, Bibi has managed to push his trial off the agenda.
At the same time, Gantz has failed to demonstrate that he's prime ministerial material, and the "anyone but Bibi" argument is just not pulling enough weight. His underwhelming performance has enabled teenagers, like the one in my local mall on Friday, to hand out "Only Bibi" flyers, without a hint of irony or moral deliberation. If a prime minister about to stand trial for fraud, bribery and breach of trust is the "only" choice, then the country is in worse shape than anyone could have feared.
Still, on Monday, voters will dutifully head out to cast their ballot once again, probably with a similar turnout as the first two rounds. And at night or on Tuesday morning, we'll discover that, once again, there's no clear-cut winner. Or worse, the results tilt enough to form a narrow Right-religious coalition, or a minority left-wing government with the outside support of the Joint List – both outcomes pushing the country toward an unstable future.
A stalemate should be a clear sign to both Netanyahu and Gantz that it's time to step aside – they each had three chances and they failed each time… oops, sorry, I got carried away. We know that would never happen.
Instead, the dreaded fourth round of voting will be upon us. On that election day, we're going to need something a lot stronger than ice cream.