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Left's Demonization Of Bibi Backfired
H
ere's a story about a famous man.
A settler from the old genera-
tion. A moderate settler, who
totally settled in the Tel Avivian world,
too. He has become a popular personality.
Moderation, gentleness and openness are
his banner.
On Sunday, two days before the elec-
tions, we had a friendly chat. It reached
the topic of politics, of course. "My
daughter was going to vote for Moshe
Kahlon," he told me, "because she did a
year of national service in an economically
depressed area. Her sensitivity developed.
"My son" he added, "was going to vote
for Yair Lapid. He is religious, but he is
afraid that the country is becoming more
and more ultra-Orthodox. He wants a
more liberal Israel. He wants someone to
fight the radicalization:'
What do you mean, "were going td'? I
asked him. Have they changed direction?
"Yes" he told me, "they will vote for the
Likud"
I was convinced that this was a matter
involving one family, which didn't repre-
sent anything. I was wrong.
When I tried to understand why, I heard
a surprising explanation. One of the
tics of identities. Occasionally,
things he mentioned was the letter
it has strange, puzzling and
written by the IDF's chief education
exaggerated aspects. But it's
officer against rabbis' participation
here, and it has no intention of
in military graduation ceremonies. I
disappearing. We didn't want to
was surprised for a minute.
understand, but it's more deci-
And then he explained: "We
sive, much more, than the cost of
living or housing prices.
sensed an attack on the Jewish
identity"
Those days, Netanyahu turned
Be n-Dror
Ye mini
It wasn't because of the left, he
into the original Likudnik,
Yne t News
said. It wasn't because of the Zionist
Menachem Begin. It's not that
Camp's Tzipi Livni or Isaac Herzog.
Begin improved the Second
It wasn't because of the leftist Meretz or the
Israel's situation in any way. But the Second
Israel, which includes not only Mizrachim
Joint Arab list. It was something in the air.
Something that joined something else.
(Sephardic Jews), but also religious Jews and
It was the left's — or the center-left's — joy settlers, didn't like the scorn, the contempt,
that they are about to defeat the "amulet
the hostility of the First Israel, the more lib-
camp" and Benjamin Netanyahu was this
eral citizens of European ancestry. Because
camp's most hated representative, he said. It
Begin gave the people of the Second Israel
was the exaggerated attack on Netanyahu,
affection. He gave them pride. It's unclear
which deserves a more thorough discussion,
whether he knew anything about politics of
an attack that turned him into a monster. A
identities. It's clear that he managed to take
lot of things can be said about Netanyahu,
off on its wings.
but he is not a monster. Suddenly, precisely
This is probably what happened to
because of the attacks, he
turned into a leader one
should identify with.
We disregard the poli-
Netanyahu. He was not the only one under
attack. The "handful of amulet kissers who
have taken over the state" were under attack,
too. And Netanyahu is their leader, even if
he has never even touched an amulet, and
even if he employs an electrician on Yom
Kippur. There was no need for Herzog or
Livni or the leftist candidate Zehava Galon
to identify with whoever made that com-
ment. It's reasonable to assume that they
didn't identify with him. But in the politics
of identities, it came from their side.
It may be too early to understand how
Netanyahu hit the jackpot. And when we say
"the jackpot" we are only referring to those
few Knesset seats which mostly moved from
the right to the Likud, and a bit less from
the center to the Likud. There is no need for
more. Five or six or seven Knesset seats —
the issue will be told and analyzed — moved
or came home. And that was enough.
So we haven't turned into two nations
again. The dispute is mainly political and
practical. A dispute for a purely spiritual
purpose. But it was actually the left-wing
camp, or center-left, which turned it into a
much less practical dispute. A dispute over
a person and over identity. The results cor-
respond with that.
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For more on the election, see page 39.
The New Government
Right-leaning and Orthodox
parties align with Netanyahu.
Times of Israel
M
oshe Kahlon's center-right
Kulanu party and Avigdor
Liberman's Russian-oriented
Yisrael Beiteinu party on Monday recom-
mended that President Reuven Rivlin
choose Likud party leader Benjamin
Netanyahu as the next prime minister,
giving Netanyahu a 67-seat bloc in the
Knesset.
A minimum of 61 members of Knesset
(MKs) in the 120-member parliament is
needed to form a government. The center-
right Likud surprised pollsters, taking 30
seats in the election, as opposed to 24 for
the center-left Zionist Union.
Members of Yair Lapid's centrist Yesh
Atid party told Rivlin earlier that it wouldn't
recommend anyone for the premiership
and that the centrist faction would sit in the
opposition.
Following Monday's meetings, Rivlin
is expected to task Netanyahu with form-
ing a government. Coalition negotiations
between various parties were expected to
begin in earnest Wednesday, March 25, and
Netanyahu will have four weeks to form his
government, with an option to extend talks
for another two.
The leftist Meretz party, like Yesh Atid,
36 March 26 • 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
the Zionist Union and
the Joint (Arab) List, was
expected to sit in the
opposition.
On Sunday, Rivlin met with the Likud,
Zionist Union, Joint List, Jewish Home, Shas
and United Torah Judaism parties, urging
party members to form a broad, inclusive
coalition able to withstand growing interna-
tional pressure on the Jewish state.
Instead, of the 88 MKs representing the
first group to meet with Rivlin on Sunday, a
total of 51 nominated Netanyahu to lead the
government.
The two ultra-Orthodox parties in the
Knesset, United Torah Judaism (six seats)
and the Sephardic Shas party (seven seats),
joined in nominating Netanyahu to lead the
government.
Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party also
nominated Netanyahu. The right-wing
party affirmed its support for the prime
minister's leadership, calling for increased
construction in the contested areas of the
West Bank and Golan Heights.
On Sunday, the Zionist Union, with 24
MKs, nominated party leader Isaac Herzog,
but did not have enough support to form a
government. The Joint (Arab) List (13 seats)
opted to not nominate anyone, due to its
rejection of Zionist parties.
❑
greets suppporters at Likud election
night headquarters in Tel Aviv.
PM's Apology
"Never my intent" to offend Israeli Arabs.
Times of Israel
p
rime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on Monday apolo-
gized to the Arab citizens of
Israel for comments he made about their
voting turnout on Election Day, which
were sharply criticized as being racist
and offensive to the community.
"I know the things I said several days
ago offended some of Israel's citizens,
hurt the Arab citizens," Netanyahu told
representatives of the Arab community
at the Prime Minister's Residence in
Jerusalem. "This was never my intent. I
apologize for this:'
However, the Joint (Arab) List, which
swept into the Knesset with 13 seats last
week, rejected Netanyahu's overture.
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh called
the apology a duplicitous "zigzag:' So
long as Netanyahu "advances racist leg-
islation ... and does not promote real
equality" for Israel's Arabs, the prime
minister's apology would not be accept-
able or credible, he said.
In a video published on Netanyahu's
Facebook page on Election Day, the PM
said Arab voter turnout was high, in a
warning intended to increase voter turn-
out among supporters of his right-wing
Likud faction.
"The rule of the right is in danger.
Arab voters are coming in droves to the
ballot boxes," Netanyahu declared in the
video. "Left-wing NGOs are bringing
them in buses:'
The remarks drew sharp condemna-
tions from Israelis across the political
spectrum, including President Reuven
Rivlin, as well as from the White House.
Netanyahu said the video was not rep-
resentative of his record. He said he saw
himself "as the prime minister of each and
every one of you, all the citizens of Israel,
regardless of faith, ethnicity or gender':
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