While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent his morning listening to the prosecution's opening remarks in his trial at the Jerusalem District Court, his mind wandered westward to the President's Residence.
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Netanyahu has failed to garner the 61 recommendations he needed to be tasked with forming the next government, and he will certainly find it difficult to ignore the connection between what is transpiring at both Jerusalem locales. If it weren't for his trial, he would have had 61 Knesset seats. In this sense, the system that did everything in its power to depose Netanyahu succeeded in getting one step closer to that goal.
Both of these events, which should have been stately and managed with the necessary respect, were transformed into one big circus before they could even begin. Forget about the Cameri Theater opening its doors for the first time in a year in Tel Aviv, the best show in the country just kicked off in Jerusalem, and tickets are two for the price of one.
The curtain was first raised at the courthouse, an event the State Attorney's Office wouldn't dare miss. Instead of conducting themselves with impartial professionalism and the necessary humility, especially in light of the exposure of a series of failures by law enforcement officials and the State Attorney's Office they head, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and Deputy State Attorney Liat Ben Ari have already taken care to brief court reports that "the opening remarks" were a "victory" and that the trial would be "dramatic" and "constitutive."
Indeed, the trial has everything a good show needs to draw an audience, and as such is the exact opposite of the kind of courthouse that can be expected to pursue justice.
Shortly thereafter, a performance on the other side of the city, in which representatives of political parties arrived at the President's Residence to tell Reuven Rivlin who they believe should be tasked with forming a coalition, kicked off.
This event should also have been carried out according to clear guidelines, explicit rules, and accepted precedents. Yet here too, the master of ceremonies, in this case, President Reuven Rivlin, decided to forgo all of the above and put on a show. His speech, in which he said "the people expect" a government with "unconventional alliances" and "cross-sectoral collaborations" to be formed, was anti-democratic and incredibly dangerous.
One can be angry with Religious Zionism Party Bezalel Smotrich's remarks that prevent the establishment of a right-wing government that relies on the Islamist Ra'am party's outside support, but at least his statements are based on ideology and not political considerations.
We can lament the fact that many others prefer to throw ideology aside in the name of vengeance and personal animosity.
None of the parties arriving at the President's Residence have a clear advantage over their rivals. On one hand, this is a clear recipe for another round of elections. On the other hand, we must hope that this time around, someone will come to their senses and realize that a majority of Israelis see this as the worst possible option and that we would much prefer they violate some of their campaign promises.
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