The violence by Arab rioters and the terrorists from the Gaza Strip remind us that some things are more important than the house of cards of Israeli politics.
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The actions of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Arab rioters stopped Yamina leader Naftali Bennett just in time from forming a government that would have destroyed the right-wing camp.
During his election campaign, Bennet made two promises: Not to sit in a government with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and not rely on the Arab Ra'am party to form a coalition.
Bennett ended up breaking both of his promises by reaching out to Lapid and Ra'am chief Mansour Abbas. In fact, he met with Abbas twice. They were scheduled to meet a third time, only the Ra'am leader canceled due to the escalating security situation.
As soon as the election results came in, it was obvious that it had resulted in a draw. But it was the right-wing bloc, which received the majority of the votes, that committed a series of mistakes that would probably have led to its own collapse.
First, New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar and Bennett presented themselves as an alternative to Netanyahu, but chose to sit with the Left.
Secondly, Netanyahu legitimized the idea of forming a coalition with Ra'am, giving the Left a rare opportunity to collaborate with a political party that has made it its mission to erase the Jewish state.
Such an outcome would have been irreversible had the events in Jerusalem, Ramle, Lod and other mixed cities not unfolded as they did.
The third, and most dangerous mistake of all, was the schism between Likud and other members of the right-wing bloc.
Several individuals are responsible for these failures. Netanyahu lost the trust of his ideological partners. Shas and United Torah Judaism knew something was about to change. Sa'ar might have advanced coalition negotiations but certainly did not gain much public sympathy. If a fifth election is held, his party is unlikely to pass the electoral threshold. And Bennett? He jumped headfirst into an empty pool, dragging several of his party members with him.
The past week has shown that many criticisms leveled at Netanyahu are correct: He disregarded Israel's internal problems, illegal weapons trafficking in the Arab sector, and did not deal with Hamas' growing prowess.
But this does not justify forming a government with the left-wing bloc and the Arab parties. What a pity that Bennett understood this only after his own party gave him an ultimatum and violent riots broke out across the country.
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