The candidates' adrenaline is still pumping through their veins. They don't know whether the fourth election has come to an end or the fifth has just begun.
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The boycott talk coming from the Left, which managed to penetrate the bastions of the Right and candidates formerly from the Likud, led to the inconceivable result of a victory both for the ideological Right and for division, the latter of which is the eternal domain of the Left.
Three people now hold Israel's future in their hands: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yamina head Naftali Bennett, and New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar. The latter two are responsible for the positioning of the Right and salvaging Israel's dignity, at the expense not of their ideology or values, but their egos. The voters have spoken loud and clear.
Sa'ar and fellow New Hope member Ze'ev Elkin take pride in having established more coalitions than anyone else. They both would be wise to establish right-wing coalitions based on the purity of the path they grew up on and aspire to: a Jewish, democratic, and nationalist state. They must enter the coalition and anchor their political abilities in the realization of ideas and not hateful discourse and division.
Instead, these two are trying to establish a coalition of "change," the new term for "hate" that will see the color return to the Left's cheeks through the most radical of means: With 12 Knesset seats, Labor party member Ibtisam Mara'ana and Meretz party head Nitzan Horowitz are now more central players than the Likud with its 30 seats and veteran partners.
Bennett should for his part take the long but safe road to the leadership of the nationalist camp. He must wait until he can run for the premiership without any shortcuts or illusions and without sidelining the Right. He should enter through the front door and not the back window.
While the path the Left has offered Bennett appears outwardly colorful, it will be a black hole that quickly swallows up anything Bennett ever wanted and worked his entire political life to achieve.
There are options on the right side of the political map. There is room for creativity.
The one who needs to stop holding a grudge is Netanyahu. As the responsible adult and the person who has played a sizeable role in events that led to the shaky ties in the right-wing camp, he must open his heart and work to bring these two home. With flexibility, honesty, creativity, generosity, and warmth. This will be backed up by agreements and signed papers, but if the people don't see the prime minister open his heart, it will all be meaningless.
Get yourselves together. If you don't, you'll be responsible for diminishing the greatness of the national camp for many years to come.
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