When asked what the emergency is, the former right-wing leader went mum. “I’m not at a loss for words, just preoccupied” he said.
The truth is that there is no national emergency. Israel stands strong. Its external enemies are licking their wounds and have never been weaker. Israel has enjoyed the most secure decade in its people’s illustrious history: A decade with the least number of security-related casualties.
The economy is surging again, as the most successful national vaccination campaign in the world has enabled Israel to become virtually COVID-19-free, a “green” country. With the lion’s share of its citizens vaccinated, Israel has once again become an international model to follow – “a light unto the nations.”
As Israelis will soon be free to travel the world, Bennett’s original campaign slogan – “Not Corona-Not Relevant” – is utterly irrelevant. The only emergency at hand is the threat that Bennett will, once again, fail to pass the electoral threshold in the next elections and forever thereafter. Any other argument is, as Joe Biden once said – a bunch of malarkey.
Bennett had what it takes, on paper at least, to one day be a bona fide candidate to lead Israel. But his obsession on becoming prime minister, even at the cost of breaching the basic pledges he made on the eve of elections and backed by only seven seats is making many sick to their stomach.
He has become a mockery and referring to him as a prime minister-designate denigrates the post. For the first time in Israel’s history the nation may swear in a prime minister heading a party with 17 seats in the Knesset (Yair Lapid); or, for the first time in the history of democracies – a prime minister heading a party of seven seats (Bennett).
A prime minister with seven mandates – one-fifth the size of Netanyahu’s party – fueled by a burning hatred of Netanyahu and ingested by incitement and deception, will go down as the most anti-democratic and reckless political maneuver ever carried out in Israel – perhaps anywhere.
It will be the first time in the history of democracy that someone with less than 5% of voter support is sworn into office. The mainstream media and well-funded left-wing NGOs who warned and were dreadfully fearful for Israel’s stability and democracy under Netanyahu are now applauding the seven-seat stunt, illustrating that hypocrisy is limitless.
Bennett’s political ploy will probably end once Netanyahu’s tenure ends, as its key objective is to remove the candidate who time after time receives the most votes. It is the only issue the parties in the anti-Netanyahu camp can agree on. Netanyahu has clarified he is prepared to spearhead the opposition. It is tough to say what will happen thereafter.
It has been suggested that a temporary diplomatic solution to the political mayhem is to appoint an acceptable right-wing interim prime minister. Someone with no long-term political aspirations, who has helped change the world, has proven policy making capabilities, uncompromising integrity, highly regarded in Israel, the US and the world over. Unfortunately, former ambassador to the US Ron Dermer is not a Knesset member, and no one else fits the job description.
One thing is clear. Netanyahu will go down in history as the longest-serving and one of the most consequential leaders in Jewish history. A leader who signed four peace and normalization agreements with important Muslim nations, without giving up an inch of land or firing a single shot. A leader who secured Israel’s borders better than any of his predecessors and unleashed the prowess of its economy like never before.
Ironically, the closer Bennett comes to forming a government, the more he distances himself from the legitimacy he yearned for. Despite his pleas, the Left will never accept him, and the Right will never forgive him. If Bennett persists to join the anti-Netanyahu camp and serve as a six mandate Prime Minister – he will be remembered as a political Bennettict Arnold.
The writer is the author of Targeted Killings, Law and Counter-Terrorism Effectiveness: Does Fair Play Pay Off? a research fellow at the International Institute of Counter Terrorism in Herzliya and the founder of Acumen Risk Ltd.