The days leading up to the election list deadline were full of mergers with the aim of creating unions that might produce political brilliance, something that was not achieved in the end.
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Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser did not appear on any list, and although Ayelet Shaked did, polls predict she will not make it into the Knesset.
There was no brilliance to be found, except perhaps Hadar Muchtar, who is salvaging the ruins of her election campaign in an apartment in Haifa. One wonders whether she will be able to survive the crisis.
Political survival warrants great effort. When a politician tries to survive within an existing party, it is still possible, similar to jumping on an already-moving train. But when the candidate has to invent an entire separate framework to survive, it is just ridiculous.
As sad as it is that there are all these minor parties, it is actually a testament to the Israeli voter, who wants to vote for something existing and essential rather than for efforts to stay in the game.
Hendel and Hauzer did the right thing and Shaked should follow in their footsteps. Because of her low chances, because of dignity, because of a waste of votes, but also because she should atone for what she and then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett did last year.
She understands and has even confirmed publicly that they made a mistake, but as long as she stays in the race and continues to try to take votes away from the right-wing camp, the confession is mere lip service.
Yamina members should determine the verdict for establishing a failing government. But most of them don't understand at all what this is about and continue to lie and rearrange. Shaked, the most decent of all, has at least admitted her mistake half-heartedly, but in order for us to truly believe her, she needs to stop undermining the right-wing bloc in her failed attempt to run in the elections. She is young enough to afford herself to take a hiatus from politics and still return, if she so wishes.
Such a courageous move will also set a precedent against the political disease of being attached to one's career, as if being a minor Knesset member is more important than running a bank or a school or a community center.
I am in no way trying to underestimate the critical influence a lawmaker can have, but there is life outside the walls of the Knesset, and when politicians realize that their career path has come to an end and make the mature decision to step down, they protect responsibility, which does well not only to them but to the entire politician system.
Until the establishment of the government of change, I looked up to Ayelet Shaked, and I still wish her great success in whatever non-political pursuit she chooses.
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