It has been a terrible year, which is exactly why this is a good time to end it. The question everyone in the anti-Netanyahu camps must ask themselves Tuesday morning is: What's the point of a fourth election?
The nation has spoken. The people perhaps didn't give Netanyahu a complete victory – we'll only know the final results in a few days – but they certainly, at the very least, kept him in power. Truth be told, this is now the third time the public has delivered this message, such that there's no reason to think things will be different a fourth time.
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To put it succinctly, we could say the second election was a type of political accident, and that in the third election both sides tried going all out. They hoped to improve their positions and they had good reason to believe, respectively, that something would change. But that's enough. We've examined, experimented, pressured, yelled, cursed, recorded, sold – there's nothing we wanted to say and didn't. And yet, Netanyahu certainly hasn't lost. And if that's the case, what would change in a fourth election? What will happen in September that didn't happen in March? What will happen in Elul that didn't happen in Adar?
Benny Gantz has squeezed all he can from the situation. He has garnered the best result the anti-Netanyahu camp has ever achieved. Whether he remains in his post or is replaced by one of his colleagues, neither he, Yair Lapid or Gabi Ashkenazi will fare any better. Even Blue and White's excellent starting position – Netanyahu's indictment and looming trial for a sitting prime minister – were the best conditions the "anyone-but-Bibi" camp could have possibly asked for.
Indeed, a fourth round is unnecessary.
Gantz, Amir Peretz, Avigdor Lieberman, or essentially any other MK with a shred of national responsibility – don't drag us to another election. It is no longer effectual or logical. Sit with Netanyahu because that's what the nation has chosen, and because this is, in fact, a democracy, there's no choice but to heed the will of the people. The prime minister has indeed been accused of criminal behavior – and this is a tough pill to swallow – but historic decisions hang in the balance. The State of Israel has a six-month window of opportunity to impose sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and communities in Judea and Samaria, but to do so Israel must have a legitimate government. This is what the people expect to see happen.
Hence, for this reason alone there's no choice other than courageous steps to get the country back on track.
Netanyahu will manage his trial (incidentally, he isn't required to attend every court hearing, as claimed), and until a ruling is handed down he will also manage the country as the law explicitly permits. So yes, you there in the rival camp, take the courageous step and save Israel. This is what the people have decided.
