When I listened to Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked's plain and unconvincing speech on Wednesday, my first thought was: These people have been close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for many years, how come they only learned the worst things from him, and so inadequately?
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The second thing that occurred was that Yamina and New Hope are no longer two distinct right-wing political parties. Their leaders have begun to operate as one unit. And what amuses me the most is that the Left encourages them to "act like Netanyahu." That is, to ask themselves what the prime minister would do in their situation, implying they should use their killer instinct, to cheat without batting an eye, to stab others in the back, to cross the Rubicon, to make up conspiracies, and lie – all for the sake of the premiership.
They think they are allowed to do minor wrongs for the sake of rectifying a major wrong. They believe that there is no greater danger to Israeli society than Netanyahu's hold on power, and therefore, all that remains is to take their noble goals and turn them into dishonest actions.
The senior members of Yamina and New Hope belong to the anti-Netanyahu bloc. And it does not matter how many right-wing clichés they share on social media or utter during their humdrum press conferences.
As for those who call on them to act more like Netanyahu, you should know it is impossible. Netanyahu, in contrast to Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and his deputy Shaked, has never disguised his intentions. He has always said that he considers himself to be the leader of the Right and determined to bring his ideas to fruition in a right-wing-national government, and if that is not an option, that in a unity government in which he maintains his dominance.
Bennett and Shaked do not possess the integrity for such a simple thing. When will they finally stand up in front of a camera and tell us what they want and plan to achieve?
Perhaps Bennett and Shaked are not hiding their intentions. Not from the public, at least. They are hiding the truth from themselves. They know deep down that they will never have Netanyahu's leadership skills or be able to articulate his political vision.
All that is left for them and others in the anti-Netanyahu bloc to do is engage in petty politics.
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