On Sunday, it will happen. The members of the incoming government will arrive at the Knesset, nervous and enthusiastic and accompanied by their family members, and one by one, take an oath of loyalty to the State of Israel. All at once, the stomach cramps and the pangs of conscience that seemingly accompanied them in recent weeks will pass, and they will be able to relax and breathe easily from the comfort of their spacious armchairs. The hard part will be over, and the objective achieved: After over 12 years as Israel's leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been removed from office.
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In the first part of his term, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will try to send the clear message that despite the sense of bitter disappointment shared by an entire political camp, he has no intentions of changing his skin. His battles were right-wing battles. In his first days in office, Bennett will try to accomplish as much as possible that makes clear to his supporters the Yamina party leader is not late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and another disengagement is not on the table.
The struggle is not an ideological one. Bennett is not an ideologue. He never was. Like everything else that led to his recent moves, Bennett's personal ambition is what motivated the man in recent years. Bennett's battle for right-wing values at the outset of his path as premier will in fact be an attempt to restore something of his lost honor. To date, Bennet is the signatory to one of the greatest political con jobs of our time. And it's not like he didn't have any competition. Following the rounds of applause for his joining forces with their ranks to oust Netanyahu, the first phase in their path to power, the Left began voicing opinions Bennett and his Yamina party members found grating. And that's before the new government has even been sworn in. The real criticism will come afterward when Bennett will go from a benefit to a detriment in an instant.
In order to rehabilitate, if ever so slightly, his position, Bennett, together with New Hope party leader Gideon Sa'ar, will need to reap right-wing achievements on the diplomatic, judicial, defense, and settlement fronts. In the first week of his tenure, he will need to decide whether to regulate the fledgling Evyatar settlement or evacuate it in adherence with an IDF order. Bennett will likely do everything to ensure the first decision he makes as prime minister is not to demolish a settlement in Judea and Samaria. For his first week in office, the Meretz and Labor parties may go along with him on the matter, in order not to make things too difficult for him.
But as his time in office progresses, Bennett will understand that he doesn't actually have anywhere to return. With the Likud and the Haredi and national religious parties in the opposition, he doesn't have much chance of maintaining his right-wing identity. The disappointment among the base he abandoned will only increase, and Bennett will be forced to look for a new voter base that will follow him on his new path. This will be a turning point in which the entire right-wing camp yearns longingly for a Netanyahu-led coalition.
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