It has been more than seven years since Naftali Bennett took up politics. These good seven years weren't enough basic training for him. He doesn't learn the lessons he should from his failures, and isn't willing to take responsibility for his actions. Only a year and a half ago, he suddenly abandoned his political partners, Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union, dared to run independently, didn't make it past the minimum electoral threshold, threw 140,000 right-wing votes away, and by his own two hands prevented the political bloc to which he belonged from winning. This is political masochism at its best.
Now Bennett's pathetic vote for Opposition Leader Yair Lapid's right to serve as prime minister put him on the defensive. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who will be celebrating a birthday a few days from now, has already been given a lovely present from Naftali. Out of all the Yamina members, only one – Matan Kahana – took part in this foolishness. In other words, Bennett is so weak that even most of his faction members openly dismiss him. His loyal partner Ayelet Shaked turned her back on him.
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When does a candidate for prime minister support a vote that has no chance of passing? Since when does a candidate for prime minister support another candidate at all? Since when does a candidate who claims to be right wing support the leader of the other bloc for prime minister?
If Bennett wants to learn how to be in the Opposition during a crisis, he is welcome to page through the conduct of the greatest oppositionist of all time, Menachem Begin, in four different crisis situations – the Altalena in 1948, the days before the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and the Entebbe situation in 1976. A second thread that runs through all these situation is support for the government that stemmed from a deep understanding of how series the crises were. Begin was able to sum that up in a few words: Love for Israel. The masses sensed that Begin was a man of integrity, good hearted, and fair, and rewarded him with a sea of love and a flood of ballots.
Bennett is behaving the opposite of how Begin did. According to the instruction manual he wrote, a major national crisis should be used to stir up a fight and open another front against the government to weaken those at the wheel, to depress the vulnerable population, and mostly, to win applause from those who spread evil. That's not how you build a government. COVID isn't a leadership alternative.
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