Last Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu was on the roof of the world, or at least on the roof of the citadel. He was sitting in his office in Ze’ev Citadel in Tel Aviv, politicians and activists flocked to the place with flowers and birthday cakes. Netanyahu celebrated 73 years, and even received good news from Shlomo Filber’s team of pollsters, until the state that today is beating the Likud chairman with optimistic polls like the king’s hand.
Netanyahu did not stop smiling. In the evening he went to Dimona, got on the transparent bus, brought the mayor Benny Biton with him and promised the residents that he would not add Benny Gantz to any government because he is a leftist. Netanyahu announced on that occasion that “I will not give up religious Zionism to get another article in ‘time’.”
Netanyahu would gladly give up religious Zionism, if he had a choice, especially after the recordings published yesterday on Channel 11. But he needs Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir with their accumulated mandates and the legal laws they plan to pass for him. Netanyahu sat with them gnashing his teeth in his government even if Smotrich called him behind his back “a liar son of a liar”, and as someone who wanted to go with Ream “my father”.
Netanyahu needs Smotrich and Ben-Gvir with their cumulative mandates and the legal laws they plan to pass for him. Netanyahu sat with them gritting his teeth even if Smotrich calls him a “liar son of a liar”
The recordings brought yesterday by the political reporter Michael Shemesh, as far as is known from a background conversation of Smotrich with a journalist from the religious-nationalist sector, Allegedly, a side bomb was placed on the paved road that Netanyahu has been walking in recent days. However, it is still too early to determine who gains and who loses from this leak.
Netanyahu sees that the voting percentages are still low in the Arab sector, Balad is throwing away tens of thousands of votes and Hadhad-Ta’al and Ra’am are refusing to sign surplus agreements. According to the assessment of pollster Adi Goren-Geva, vice director of the “Sample” Institute, Hadash-T’al is hovering around the percentage of obstruction, and if it does not pass – Netanyahu’s victory is guaranteed.
Netanyahu is also benefiting from Ben-Gvir’s campaign, which is stimulating the territory and bringing new voters to the bloc from the periphery. Netanyahu also sees Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz fighting over the leadership of the center-left bloc, which does him no harm. Hopes are also pinned on Lapid’s campaign against Meretz and Labor, even if the prime minister is cautious.
Zehava Galon told me yesterday that in Meretz’s focus groups, people are convinced that the leader of the big party is forming the government, and therefore he should be supported. “This is a perception that is difficult to change, people will vote for Lapid, will leave Meretz until we are wiped out,” says Galon.
In Meretz’s focus groups, people are convinced that the head of the big party is forming the government, and therefore he should be supported. “This is a perception that is difficult to change, people will vote for Lapid, will leave Meretz until he is wiped out,” says Galon
Yesterday the recordings arrived and on his face they destroyed Netanyahu’s great joy. Smotrich turned him into a leftist and a criminal. Smotrich actually joins Presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy who said similar things about Netanyahu. Even Ben-Gvir, Smotrich’s partner, recoiled from these blunt statements.
Ben Gvir on Smotrich: “I didn’t like the recordings I heard. You shouldn’t speak in a personal tone and certainly not in that style.” pic.twitter.com/zkFn1W2USD
— Yehuda Schlesinger (@judash0) October 23, 2022
What is interesting, contrary to all the ex-prime minister’s mouthpieces on the right and in the media – Smotrich is really convinced that Netanyahu will be convicted in his trial and will leave political life.
Smotrich is usually right. He appreciates Netanyahu and thinks he is a super statesman, but he never believed him. Smotrich is indeed the only one who stood in the way and prevented Netanyahu from forming a government with Ream. Netanyahu sent Rabbi Haim Druckman to convince Smotrich to agree to a government with the support of Mansor Abbas and it did not help. This is the truth, and it is a shame that Smotrich is not conspiring today The stories of Yoav Kish and his friends As if this conversation took place about the direct elections.
Netanyahu sent Rabbi Haim Druckman to convince Smotrich to agree to a government with Ra’am and it didn’t help. This is the truth, and it’s a shame that Smotrich doesn’t make up the stories of Yoav Kish today as if this conversation took place about the direct elections
Netanyahu went on a rescue mission. Smotrich’s harsh words will certainly not transfer votes from the right-wing bloc to the left, nor to Ayelet Shaked, but no one wants to hear that he is a liar son of a liar from the ultimate partner who might bail him out of the trial, if the two form a government together.
Yesterday evening, Netanyahu tried to minimize damage and move voters on the right specifically towards Likud following Smotrich’s attack.
Netanyahu to Smotrich and Ben Gvir: “Stop shooting inside the APC, you need a bigger Likud than Lapid to form a right-wing government of which you are a part in any case”
— Glatz (@GLZRadio) October 23, 2022
“Stop shooting inside the APC,” Netanyahu called to Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and later added that “Lapid’s plans must be thwarted. You need a big Likud to establish a stable right-wing government, of which you are a part in any case.”
If this move is successful and the Likud rises in the polls at the expense of religious Zionism, they will still think that Netanyahu was the man who leaked the recordings against him.