Naftali Bennett is the new prime minister of Israel, an
honor to be sure. But many of us are devastated by his assumption to the
throne. It’s not only that Bennett lacks the polish and statesmanship of
Netanyahu, it’s the way he seized power.
Israel is a true democracy, pretty much split down the
middle in terms of right and left. We comprise a plurality of views. And that
is precisely why we kept having election after election (after election after
election). It is so darned difficult to settle an election when half the
population feels one way, and the other half feels the other way. But even
right and left are fragmented into itsy bitsy parties. Except for Netanyahu’s Likud,
which received the most significant block of votes.
An election was always going to be decided by forming a coalition,
because without 61 seats, you can’t make a government, and Likud had only 30.
The only thing to do then is to make a match between a large party, the next
largest party (Lapid’s Yesh Atid), and a few lesser parties. It was either that
or cobbling together lots of teeny tiny little parties to make a larger whole of
a coalition that would be so fragmented in its views that it would always be
doomed to failure and not represent anyone at all.
The latter is exactly the track Naftali Bennett chose in his
rise to power. He glued together teensy little parties that the majority of
Israelis did not vote for, and then put them all together in a basket and
presented us with a government that doesn’t represent the majority of Israelis,
or even the largest sector of Israelis represented in the election, those who
voted for Likud, the party of Netanyahu.
Alas, the majority was still not enough to keep Bibi in
power. With only 30 mandates, he was short by more than one half of the 61
mandates he needed to remain on Balfour St.
To the hopeful, it looks as though Bennett achieved an
amazing feat of unity, by crafting a government composed of every part of
society: right, left, Arabs and Jews, gay, straight, people of color or with
disabilities—this government has it all. Those with hope see this new
government as all of the people getting together to make real change and
compromise: an inclusive government. But the rest of us see it as chicanery, a
coup to unseat Netanyahu, a group of tiny parties of few votes so hungry for
power that they would and did play dirty.
Bennett swore up and down he would not be in a government
with the people with whom he is now in a government. Bennett’s party received
just 7 mandates. Netanyahu’s party had 30. Is it any wonder that Netanyahu
feels he was done dirty by Bennett?
Also: you don’t have to love Netanyahu to know that this is
not the time to have a changing of the guard, with Iran weeks away from the
bomb and a president hostile to Israel in the White House. Netanyahu is a
seasoned statesman. Bennett lacks stature, presence. Maybe that’s why the people
did not choose him. He got in through deception, alone.
The night that the new government passed its final parliamentary
vote, I slept badly, and had nightmares. I am afraid of this government, afraid
of the Biden Administration, and terrified of Iran. The situation feels out of
control.
No. I did not love Netanyahu—he made promises to the right
and never kept them—but that is who needs to be prime minister right now. In
Israel we have two groups of voters: Only Bibi, and Only NOT Bibi. Now we have
the Only NOT Bibi government in power, and consider this: four times the number
of people who voted for Bennett, did not want him in power.
Of those who did vote for Bennett, many feel betrayed. I
know because I live in a town where he is very popular, and he mentioned us in
his first speech as prime minister in a nod to that support. I polled my
friends and many said they feel betrayed by him for sitting with Lapid, the
Left, and with Ra”am (the Arab party.) A minority of my Bennett-voting friends
are taking a wait-and-see attitude. They are not yet ready to give up on their romance
with Naftali.
Those outside of Israel often find it difficult to
understand our political climate. The following segment of Guy Zohar’s M’HaTzad
HaSheini [From The Other Side] of June 1, 2021, from Israel’s Channel 11 Kan
News, is enlightening, but in Hebrew only. The clip details the promises that
Bennett has made and broken.
I endeavored to make a rough translation (apologies in
advance for my shortcomings as a Hebrew-English translator) of the 4-minute
segment to help my non-Israeli readers understand why there is such a lack of
trust in Naftali Bennett. It boils down to this: every politician breaks
promises, but Bennett went beyond the pale, abusing his voters’ trust, and
taking advantage of the kinks in our electoral system. This makes it all the
more clear that we have a desperate need for electoral reform in Israel,
something to which Netanyahu alluded in his bitter parting speech.
נפתלי בנט הודיע שבכוונתו לפעול כדי להקים ממשלה עם יאיר לפיד, ועם השמאל. ברוטציה. רק עם שישה מנדטים. טוב אתם מבינים מה צריך לעשות, כן?#מהצד_השני עם @guyzo pic.twitter.com/5ZEW7f4W9v
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 1, 2021
Guy Zohar: We have to
take a breath, it just doesn’t come easy for us.
Naftali Bennett: I inform you today, that my intention is to
work with all my strength toward the creation of a national unity government,
together with my friend Yair Lapid.
Guy Zohar: We have no
choice. You understand now what we have to do, don’t you?
Host: You will sit
under him if he is prime minister?
Naftali Bennett: No!
Host: Will you make a
rotation [agreement]?
Naftali Bennett: Not in rotation. Not in mutation. [waves
hand]
Guy Zohar: Ouch. No
one says he didn’t learn from Netanyahu.
Naftali Bennett: Forever and without any preconditions, I
will not lend my hand to the establishment of a government with Yair Lapid.
Guy Zohar: Ouch.
Naftali Bennett: I won’t permit Yair Lapid to be prime minister,
not even in rotation.
Guy Zohar: It hurts
us more than it hurts you. And it gets worse.
*ding*
Naftali Bennett: We won’t form a government that elevates
the Left. Because I’m Right. What I’m going to do is to establish a
national government, that is to say not to transfer administration to the Left,
because most of the nation, 80 mandates, are on the right, at today’s count.
Host: Lapid is the
Left?
Naftali Bennett: Lapid, yes.
*ding*
Naftali Bennett: I commit before you that no matter what, I
will not sit [in government] with or give my hand that *ding* Yair Lapid will be prime minister of Israel. And of course,
I will not flip Lapid *ding* to become
prime minister, not by rotation, and not without rotation [waves hand], because
I am a man of the right.
Guy Zohar: And it
doesn’t end here. Come let’s return to the speech in which Naftali Bennett
declared his intention to—yes—establish a unity government with Yair Lapid.
Naftali Bennett: This is a government that will not be
against any sector or any group.
Guy Zohar: But . . .
just before the elections, you said that . . .
Naftali Bennett: Yair Lapid caused polarization in the last
decade, truly terrible, in the Israeli community. I don’t think this should be the
character that the nation of Israel today needs as its prime minister.
Guy Zohar: Back to
this week’s speech. (Hoo-wa!)
Naftali Bennett: Know that the Left makes here difficult
compromises in granting me the position of prime minister.
Guy Zohar: Wait! You
prime minister?? YOU prime minister??? But you only have 6 mandates [out of the
necessary 61 minimum needed to form a government]!
Naftali Bennett: I hope and believe that the public will
give me the strength *ding* with 15
mandates I won’t be prime minister. Twenty? Yes. And I am the insurance policy for
a right-wing government that will care about you.
Host: The public gives
you a small number of mandates, nine mandates in the latest polls.
Naftali Bennett: Excuse me. Today I am already at 11. *ding* And if I reach 15 we will have
established here a government. I need just a few more mandates to generate a
change in leadership. Impossible with ten mandates to do this. 15 mandates, we
can come and change the leadership in real fashion.
Host: You are the
spoonful that tips the scales. You can be prime minister.
Naftali Bennett: But not with *ding* ten mandates.
Host: With ten
mandates!
Naftali Bennett: That’s not democratic. You need more.
Guy Zohar: Yes. Now, let’s
return to the speech that’s fresh. What
does it mean that the left makes compromises?
Naftali Bennett: Know that the Left makes compromises that
are not easy.
Guy Zohar: Does this
mean that you are going to sit with the Labor Party?
Host: The Labor Party
with seven mandates is a sort of partner?
Naftali Bennett: No. With them, they’re not in favor of a
Jewish and Democratic state.
Guy Zohar: Do you
mean to say that you will sit with Meretz?
Host: We’re ready to
come to an agreement on this that you will not sit with Meretz?
Naftali Bennett: Right. You know why? Because they support The
Hague.
Guy Zohar: What about
Ra”am’s [refers to the Arab party] abstention or support?
Naftali Bennett: Listen, it’s an unbelievable thing, also
this. Look how Netanyahu embraced Ra”am in this way. It’s a disgrace. I’ll
explain why. Ra”am is the Islamic Movement’s party in Israel, in fact the
Israeli branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. This is who the prime minister is
ready to embrace—those who contribute to the murder of our soldiers.
Guy Zohar: Okay. There’s
one thing you have to credit him, that this also
Bennett said before the elections.
Naftali Bennett: *Ding* We won’t go to a fifth election. I won’t drag the State of Israel to a fifth election. This would be a crime! Vote for the right, letter Bet, it’s a kind of insurance policy that 1. We’ll establish a government.
Guy Zohar: Here it is. Everything’s okay. There were a few promises. They were all contradicted. But hey! You have to choose "1."
