Netanyahu: They did it once and they'll do it again

Every Wednesday, the election season in Israel always starts early and heatedly. There are still six months until the legislative elections for the Knesset, but the political arena is witnessing intense activity between alliances and defections left and right. Perhaps this is what distinguishes the Israeli political system, where instability reigns supreme. For example, throughout the short history of the Hebrew state, no party has been able to win an absolute majority (61 out of 120 seats) in the Knesset to form a stable government, as the structure of their electoral system allows for a wide scope for the formation of small parties and obtaining seats in the Knesset, which facilitates repeated divisions within a single party. Consequently, the issue of forming a government is almost impossible without forming coalitions with small parties, and at the same time, it makes the collapse of the government very likely when there is a disagreement over any small point. And because the obsession with overthrowing Benjamin Netanyahu has been the primary goal of opposition leaders in Israel for a decade until today, there are no clear ideological differences or even alternatives to political and security plans. The most prominent and powerful event on the scene is the alliance that occurred between the two poles of the opposition, Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli Prime Minister, and Yair Lapid, to form a single party called "Together." This is not new between the two men. It happened previously in 2022 when Bennett formed the Israeli government, which included a strange and contradictory mix of different political rivals in everything except one goal, which is the same reason for the current alliance: overthrowing Benjamin Netanyahu. This government carried the reasons for its failure from day one due to the fundamental ideological contradictions between its poles. The strange thing is that the most prominent reason for its fall was the withdrawal of members of Bennett's own party and their joining the opposition with Netanyahu. What is new this time is the increasing pragmatism of "Naftali Bennett," as it seems clear that the two years he spent away from politics, he thoroughly studied how to avoid falling again before his old boss and ally, Netanyahu. Bennett knows very well that it is not easy to defeat a fox like Netanyahu, who has managed to engrave his name among the most important Zionist leaders of all time. His political history is equivalent to a quarter of Israel's history since its ill-fated establishment. Netanyahu has created a political situation in Israeli society where more people reject him than accept him, but everyone finds no alternative to him. He is the elitist, populist leader obsessed with the media, who addresses the Jewish psyche among both left and right audiences, and knows how to manipulate the strings that touch the Jewish subconscious and the set of complexes it carries, based on the principle of elevating the risks to preserve the throne. Bennett is trying to close the gaps before the fox Netanyahu and woo voters from various directions. He announced four main pillars that he will implement immediately upon successfully forming the next government: First: The government is right-wing Zionist, and therefore will not include Arabs from within because they are not Zionists. Second: Restructuring the Israeli political system so that the term of office of the prime minister is limited to eight years or two terms at most, to win the votes of those who do not want Netanyahu, the longest-serving in the short history of the state. Third: Forming an investigation committee into the events of October 7. This is the weapon he relies on to end Netanyahu's political life, as there is a belief that the current government led by Netanyahu is trying to obscure the facts and avoid the cost of political questions about the security failures in the events of October 7, and that postponing the investigation means never investigating. Fourth: The issue of conscription: This is the complex issue that ignites the internal crisis and causes a division in Israeli society, revolving between the religious parties "Haredim" on one hand and the rest of the societal segments on the other. The former rejects conscription and military service on the basis of the necessity of dividing burdens, as those who study the Torah and pray for the Jews and for the victory of Israel - from their point of view - should not bear an additional burden and fight, while the rest believe that this is an evasion of military service that leads to exhausting reserve soldiers and doubling the pressure on them and exposing them to danger on the inflamed fronts. Bennett wants to get the votes of soldiers and their families. He announced the principle of "giving for taking," meaning that anyone who evades service is not entitled to any financial privileges or government support from the state budget. He reinforced his vision religiously and cited texts from the Old Testament where the Prophet Moses ordered Torah students to participate in fighting. It is noteworthy that Netanyahu responded sarcastically to the Bennett/Lapid alliance with a slogan he raised: They did it once and they'll do it again, and the truth is that his unspoken words are: They failed once and they will fail again. Netanyahu is playing his game again. He wants to confine the elections between two teams: a national right led by him and a treacherous left led by Bennett.