With low turnout in the Arab community persisting, Netanyahu opts not to stir the pot ■ Ahmad Tibi, a mainstay in Bibi's incitement crosshairs, sticks to his decision to bring down the so-called 'change' government ■ Finance Minister Lieberman belatedly remembers that he too doesn't like Arabs, and the Mossad belatedly decides to hire a spokesperson
Last week the story here was about opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to take a non-infuriating and non-inflammatory line concerning the Arab electorate in his campaign. The rationale: Don’t poke the voters out of their indifference and keep the voter turnout low there (“local anesthesia”). A few days ago, Likud headquarters posted a video targeted at Arabs: With excessive sugariness that would make even television pastry chef Carine Goren puke, the Likud chairman addressed the voters, announcing “the new era” that awaits them: “an era of respect, an era of equality, an era of personal security and prosperity.”
He invites them to dance with the Jews here like Arabs and Jews danced together in the streets of Dubai. He expresses his pride in the doctors and nurses, sons and daughters of the community, and for dessert he serves up Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s famous line from his poem “Two Banks Hath the Jordan” that became his movement’s hymn: “There the son of Arabia, of Nazareth and my son will find fulfillment.” He is promising this Arab-Jewish La-la-land to the same public that during the past 14 months was the target of frenzied incitement, abhorrent and disgusting racism and sweeping exclusion from his direction. If anything like that had occurred in a Christian country toward the Jewish minority – well, we can only imagine.
No, no, not at all, protest the Likud people upon hearing this. It wasn’t against the Arab public that we came out, but rather its representatives in the Knesset. All 10 of the lawmakers are supporters of terror, haters of Israel, “Muslim Brothers,” terrorists. But their electorate? They are wonderful people, the salt and za’atar of the earth. We have nothing against them (but hordes of them better not throng to the polling places on November 1, because then we will warn and incite against them).
In cynicism and in manipulativeness, Netanyahu and his mouthpieces have no competitors in Israeli politics. He’s the Machiavelli of the modern age. Nonetheless, it must be said that when the left-center camp says, “We will not sit with an individual who has been indicted on serious charges of corruption and is acting to destroy the legal system” – on the right they go wild. “How is it possible to invalidate a million voters?! (Two million, say the finicky, referring to the votes of the whole bloc.) However, when Netanyahu and the bullies at his side lash out at the Arab lawmakers – here there is no invalidation of the public that sent them to Knesset.
“This is an opportunity to begin a new era,” gushes Netanyahu in the video. And what an era: without Arabs in the coalition, of course, but with Bezalel Smotrich of Religious Zionism. (“The Arabs are citizens of Israel at least at the moment, they have Knesset members, at least at the moment.”) And with Itamar Ben-Gvir (Jewish Power) skipping from one terror attack site to another to show the Arabs “who owns this place,” promising to deport their Knesset members in airplanes and up until two years ago seeing Baruch Goldstein as a “saint and hero” who massacred 29 Muslim worshippers, and refusing to take his portrait down from the wall of his living room. (Only when he decided that the time had come to get elected to the Knesset did he “become more moderate.” The moderators of the afternoon current event shows on television swallowed this nonsense and are always hungry for more. They are addicted to the genre.)
In the promised, longed-for era, when Yoav Gallant and Yisrael Katz, who threatened the Arabs of Israel with a second Nakba, are serving as key ministers, along with Miri Regev, Shlomo Karhi, Dudi Amsalem and other Likudniks who have cursed and excoriated the Arab lawmakers. They called Naftali Bennett “the prime minister of the Muslim Brotherhood” and his government “a government of terror supporters.” And the presenter wants to erase all this from the collective memory.
MK Ahmad Tibi (Ta’al – Joint List) isn’t taking Netanyahu’s anesthetic tactic lightly. “He is going back to being Abu Yair in a 2022 edition,” he said to me on Thursday. “In the past, when he frontally attacked the Arab public, our base woke up. In the meantime, regrettably, the grassroots are dormant, the turnout rate is low, about 40 percent. This is worth a whole Knesset seat to him, maybe one and a half seats.
“Contributing to this is also the fact that the Joint List hasn’t resurrected itself,” Tibi admitted sadly. “There is foot-dragging. Last year there was an Arab party in the coalition, the problems weren’t solved, and this too hasn’t contributed to the public’s desire to vote.”
Will you get together to formulate a stimulus campaign?
Tibi didn’t offer a to-do list, but rather a not-to-do list. “There are things that definitely must not be done. Squabbles, negative campaigns against one another – these are things that could depress the turnout rate even further.”
For a year you drank Mansour Abbas’s blood. Now are you going to embrace?
“Political disagreement is permissible,” said Tibi, “but the voters don’t like slander and mudslinging. Everyone will present his arguments, without throwing around filth.”
Don’t you regret that you didn’t prevent the toppling of the change government? Bibi is closer than ever to the government of his dreams, and you could have prevented this.
“We are an opposition,” said Tibi, reciting the worn-out mantra. ”This last government was worse than the ones that came before it, which were also awful. In matters of the Kaminitz law” – which cracked down on building without permits – “the Negev, house demolitions, crime in Arab society – it was a very bad government.”
I wanted to ask what a “good” government would be in his opinion, if not one that includes Yesh Atid, Labor and Meretz, one that invested huge amounts of money in the Arab community (true, it is the rival United Arab List that is demanding the credit), one which has set in motion efforts to deal with the violence in the community in an unprecedented way, one whose leaders did not incite, didn’t talk racism and didn’t call him and his colleagues “terrorists” who must be expelled to Syria.
I didn’t manage to do that. Tibi had to run.
Moshe Klughaft is an experienced adviser. In the past he worked with Naftali Bennett and with Benjamin Netanyahu, even with Tamar Zandberg of Meretz and with top politicians in Europe. Going into the final stretch, Netanyahu again wanted his good services. Last week, they met six or seven times. All the meetings were at the Likud chairman’s office at Metzudat Ze’ev, the party’s headquarters in Tel Aviv. On Sunday evening, at a propitious hour, they signed a contract, shook hands and agreed to begin work immediately. An hour later, Klughaft discovered that all the working meetings scheduled for the following day had been canceled, including an extra one with Netanyahu himself.
The leader of the opposition himself personally phoned the adviser, a bit embarrassed, muttered something about “problems” that required time to solve. Same thing the next day: The “problems” had not been solved. Netanyahu asked for more time. The adviser, who in the meantime had learned what had caused the sudden shift to reverse gear, understood that any waiting around on his part would only harm him, and hastened to cut loose. He posted a story on Instagram under the heading: “Thanks, I’m giving up the job,” and explained that it had become clear to him than “external elements” are opposed to his appointment. He didn’t bother to inform Netanyahu in advance. Thus shall be done to the man. Klughaft was astounded. This had never happened to him before. Ultimately it was Netanyahu’s doing. The man who violated a coalition agreement with Benny Gantz every day for a year, and also tried to violate the law when he pushed to appoint Ofir Akunis as justice minister – what does he care about a contract with an adviser?
There are two people in the world who can overrule a decision by Netanyahu: his wife and his elder son. Sara was fine with it. She too had met with Klughaft, and approved hiring him. That left Yair, who has been abroad for many weeks (his last known location was Miami). He wasn’t in on the secret and learned about it from the Likud announcement. According to an informed source, the enraged son phoned his father and the team of advisers and in unequivocal words and decibels, he demanded the firing of the new employee (in Likud they are denying his involvement).
Great consternation descended upon Metzudat Ze’ev. How will the candidate for prime minister look if he can’t appoint an adviser without getting painfully smacked by the kid? We have learned in the past about the extent of Junior’s influence over Dad from political, security and diplomatic incidents. The final word is his, whether with screaming and cursing or in pantomime as described by state witness Nir Hefetz. In general, the new Bibi, fan of the Kahanists, inveigher against the court system who aims to harm it and destroy it, is the handiwork of the son.
Netanyahu’s office was in a state of panic. The court scribes were briefed that the objection was on a purely professional basis “on the part of other advisers.” One social network scribbler tweeted this at his master’s command, and hastened to delete it. Netanyahu has three close advisers: Topaz Luk, Yonatan Urich and Ofer Golan. It was the first of them who brought Klugi to the boss and the announcement of the appointment came from the second’s mobile phone, under the signature of the third. They hadn’t objected in real time and certainly not in retrospect.
In Netanyahu’s close circle they saw that it wouldn’t fly. MK Galit Distal Atbaryan, for whose talents no despicable mission is too small, was dispatched to the media: “This is a fifth election campaign, the budget is small. ... Netanyahu has tremendous esteem for Klughaft,” she explained. That second part was aimed at Klugi’s ears, to stroke him so he won’t take revenge. The first part not only contradicted the original statement about the opposition from the advisers, it also showed Netanyahu in an even more ridiculous light, as someone who doesn’t know how much money is in the coffers, how much he is allowed to spend and how much he isn’t.
Two days went by, and the budgetary excuse provided by Distal Atbaryan was given additional clarification. Into the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood in south Tel Aviv rolled a truck with walls of armored glass, and inside was the candidate for prime minister on behalf of Likud. It is called the “Bibiba,” not by the hostile and sarcastic media, but rather by the Likudniks themselves.
Here we have at least one win for Klughaft. He will not become known as the one responsible for this tasteless, eye-popping display that demonstrates disconnection and arrogance and insane wastefulness of public money (about 700,000 shekels, almost $200,000, according to the Kan Broadcasting Corporation, for a total of 50 days, including Sabbaths, holiday eves and holidays). In a rough calculation of the weekdays that remain, the Bibimobile will suck in about 20,000 shekels a day from the party’s budget, and to broadcast what? That the man is a coward and out of touch? Or papal and imperial? He once boasted of being a regular guy. Went to beaches, walked around markets, showed up at shopping malls.
Of the wonders of Netanyahu’s exaggerated makeup and pomaded hair, much has been told. Along with the glass wall, this is already reminiscent of a ludicrous exhibit in a wax museum. The Bibiba is an extreme version of the mobile broadcasting studio that Miri Regev rode in 2019, before she was warehoused during the consecutive election campaigns in a dark room somewhere along with the rest of the top Likud people who deter the soft right. It isn’t clear how this roving aquarium will awaken the grassroots, but the glazing precisely symbolizes the authentic feelings of the presenter behind it towards the audience on the other side: hard and separate.
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has been having trouble crafting a cohesive platform for his Yisrael Beiteinu party, claimed this week that after the next election Yair Lapid will try to form a government with Shas and the Joint List. “I see him wooing them,” Lieberman said. These statements reflect something of a return to his ideological base, which is inimical to both the ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israelis.
Still, it isn’t a serious venture. Shas and the Joint List are in the same boat. And if Lapid gets Shas, he won’t need the Joint List.
If the ultra-Orthodox don’t go with him, the Joint List won’t be able to save him – not because he wouldn’t want this help, at least from outside the coalition, but because leaders of Gantz's National Unity Party would veto it. (This would include, incidentally, Gadi Eisenkot, who recently made some tepid comments against a bill that would allow the reoccupation of Gaza, as well as statements in favor of evacuating illegal outposts in the West Bank, earning him immediate condemnation as a leftist.)
This takes us back to May 10, 2021, the first day of last year's fighting with Gaza. Naftali Bennett, who was conducting coalition talks after the March election, got cold feet and told Lapid and the media that there was nothing to talk about. Missiles from Gaza were landing in Israel and violent clashes broke out in mixed Arab-Jewish cities; assaults by people on both sides and vandalism against mosques and synagogues. The sense was that the nascent partnership with Mansour Abbas' United Arab List was going up in flames.
Lapid, who saw his dream project falling into an abyss, visited the Tel Aviv home of New Hope chief Gideon Sa’ar. He proposed exchanging the six lawmakers in Bennett's Yamina party for the six in the Joint List. Lapid offered Sa’ar the prime minister’s job instead of Bennett in a rotation government.
Sa’ar rejected this out of hand for two reasons, one ideological, the other technical. First, he wouldn’t be able to make a move in such a cabinet, and not just him. It wouldn’t function and wouldn’t last long. Second, it would never happen. Lapid asked why not.
Because on the day it was sworn in, somebody wouldn't show up. With 61 of the Knesset's 120 seats, it’s enough for one legislator to opt out and there’s no government, only humiliation. There will always be a Verdiger or a Mizrahi – two ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who by their absence in 1990 foiled the forming of a government led by Shimon Peres, the ploy later dubbed “the stinking maneuver.” Lapid was persuaded and the rest is history.
Returning to the present: Ayelet Shaked, Bennett’s successor at Yamina, now Zionist Spirit, is also having trouble crafting a clear message. “We’ll work for a unity government” is an empty slogan. If her party passes the 3.25-percent electoral threshold and gives Netanyahu 61, 62 or 63 Knesset seats, she’ll fly into the government as a senior cabinet member.
But the threshold is proving ever elusive. Adding Yoaz Hendel turned out to be a serious blunder she regrets. Hendel doesn’t bring in right-wing voters, and he’s driving away centrist ones. His insistence on guaranteeing the fourth spot on the slate for his friend Zvi Hauser is collegial but prevents Shaked from appointing someone appealing to her target, religious Zionist voters.
Hendel and Hauser don’t bring in votes but they occupy valuable spots. Relations between Hendel and Shaked are uneasy. Her close associates are urging her to get rid of these two inveterate hitchhikers and replace them with people from the religious-Zionist Habayit Hayehudi party. They say she should swear allegiance to Netanyahu and his bloc, something that in her heart she probably identifies with. But even this is unlikely to save her at the ballot box.
A public-opinion expert believes that if Shaked carries on to the end, she'll end up with much less than one Knesset seat. Polls now show her winning 2 percent, or 2.5 seats. The public-opinion expert says the extra 1.5 comes from voters hoping she'll cross the electoral threshold. As soon as they're convinced that her chances are negligible, they’ll go with a safer bet.
At some point, Shaked will be in an impossible position. Netanyahu will campaign against her, arguing that a vote for her party wastes a vote for the right. The center-left will hope she continues (with someone from that camp blabbing about it in the media, of course). She'll be caught in the middle, between the sky and humiliation at the voting booth.
As someone who until recently was touted as the next leader of the right, she may find herself as this election's Ofer Shelah – Lapid's right-hand man who quit Yesh Atid, formed his own party and failed. In that scenario, Shaked would be withdrawing in shame long before Election Day.
The Mossad will now speak for itself
Tardy by a decade or two, the Mossad has decided that it needs an in-house spokesperson. Well, welcome to era of social media.
If the Shin Bet security service, the army and intelligence agencies around the world have a spokesperson, why shouldn’t the Mossad?
Up to now the prime minister’s spokesperson has served as the Mossad's as well, requiring some pretty inane to-ing and fro-ing. Mossad chief David Barnea decided that a little streamlining was in order.
The idea had been around for a while. In recent weeks, with the support of Lapid, who understands a thing or two about the media, it was decided to make some progress. The Prime Minister’s Office is searching for a candidate.
Lapid and Barnea aren’t the only ones who believe this is a very necessary step for the Mossad. The heads of other intelligence agencies support the move, including the head of the National Security Council.
The need for a spokesperson who isn’t dealing with countless other issues was felt during the attempted assassination of Israelis in Turkey this year. The Mossad had to face the Israeli, Turkish and international media at the same time, sometimes needing to publish a photo or statement at a few minutes’ notice. The other shoe finally dropped.
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