This week, in a typically arrogant fashion, Yair Lapid agreed to throw Benjamin Netanyahu a bone. He is willing to allow the prime minister to manage the "corona desk" in a unity government. He wants him to be a desk manager.
Like a dolphin quickly emerging and disappearing between the waves, a small, thin sliver of truth was revealed: This isn't the material from which stately leaders are made. The toyish, immature, spoiled Lapidism fanned the rebellious protests outside the Knesset last week. A convoy of jeeps broke through the Jerusalem corridor to claim the toy they were promised, without understanding just how trapped they were in a narrative from which the only escape is to crash into the hard, unyielding wall of reality.
They know in their hearts that it wasn't democracy that was close to collapsing, rather the faulty conception to which they devoted themselves over the past year. These were childish demonstrations, disproportionate, utterly lacking in balance. And not just because of the highly contagious coronavirus. Like teenagers lashing out at their parents, they unloaded all their frustrations, mostly at themselves, realizing their power was limited, that they had chased a childish fantasy. So they flocked to protest against the "responsible adult." The Knesset, the court.
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These were the final convulsions of the super-plan propelled by the bitter fumes of hatred. Hatred can cause a lot of damage but isn't a fuel that can sustain for long distances. In a very long-winded text, Yair Lapid explained this week that he has an ideology. That it's more than "anyone-but-Bibi." What does it mean, forcing a third election, declaring victory, and then, all of a sudden, try convincing the masses with lots of words that all this time you had an ideology? This is perhaps an indication of what will happen in less than 48 hours.
The last few weeks showed Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi the political, ideological and moral absurds to which vengeful and hateful obsession can lead. Moshe Ya'alon, Lapid, MK Ofer Shelah, were on one crazy, uncompromising, hard "trip."
They managed to sow divisions, slaughter sacred cows, violate deep-rooted norms, fling to the side of the road several of the values that give life to Israeli solidarity. They were possessed. Even a crisis on the scale of the coronavirus couldn't momentarily shake them out of their psychosis. It was an exponential madness, as described this week on these pages by Akiva Bigman.
They fully admitted it. "Taking Netanyahu down – that's the ultimate goal." Neutralizing the freedom of choice for almost half the nation – that's the way. This is explicitly the type of politics that seeks to destroy, before it even knows if and what it wants to build. And hatred is not a material one can build something lasting with.
Gantz and Ashkenazi – and everyone who left Yesh Atid's house of cards – simply saw it all clearly over the past week. This entire political enterprise is one big illusion, and it was obvious that Blue and White wouldn't be able to foster conciliation or constructive policy for Israel. Shelah, Lapid and Ya'alon almost took Israel down the path of destruction. Their unhinged behavior showed Gantz and Ashkenazi the correct path, and they veered at the last second. They were able to escape the conception before it faced its day of atonement.
Shelah and Lapid are stuck now, together with Lieberman and Ya'alon, managing the Left desk. Senior members in the cabinet of bitterness. The moment was an extraordinary test. History, nothing less, called on them to throw their shoulders underneath the stretcher and help carry the load. But they preferred their petty and vengeful politics. Their true face was revealed. We're just lucky this happened before they were given responsibility for the nation at such a sensitive time in its history.
