The political tug of war between parties over the limelight in an election campaign is a given, but every once in a while, something happens that demands the attention of all players and could actually shift the focus of the campaign across the board.
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Monday's ruling by the High Court of Justice ordering the state to recognize non-Orthodox conversions is one of those instances.
The "anything but Netanyahu" camp comprises parties – both left- and right-wing – whose leaders have declared they will not join a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But that is not all they have in common.
As Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism are now seen as one and the same, the anything but Netanyahu" camp pursue the opposite – progressive, anti-religious liberalism. Therefore, if you are "anti-Netanyahu" you are inherently "anti-Haredi" and vice versa.
The thing is – this bombshell ruling demands that all party heads, regardless of which side of the political map they are on, issue clear statements detailing their position on the matter. They very simply cannot afford to be ambiguous.
Issues like religion and state and an anti-Haredi agenda serve Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beytenu, and Meretz, and – on the flip side – Shas and United Torah Judaism, but it is less in favor of the agenda pushed by Likud, New Hope, and Yamina.
Netanyahu may be pleased by the fact that the Haredi parties now have something new with which to appeal to even more voters – the High Court's decision to rule on petitions that have been debated for 15 years three weeks ahead of the elections did not go over well – but generally speaking, Netanyahu would have preferred the campaign focus on other things, like the nationwide vaccination drive.
In a recent, rather longwinded Facebook post, Netanyahu explained why it was important that he be re-elected.
We must import 36 million coronavirus vaccines in order to immunize the public every year, he wrote. This post, however, lays the groundwork for an escape plan, in case the vaccination drive fails to deliver the desired votes.
This is not how Netanyahu planned to reach the March 23 elections.
Coronavirus data is borderline. Infection rates are erratic, and rather than reaping the electoral rewards of resuming full economic activity – and being the first nation worldwide to do so – two weeks ahead of the elections, health officials keep warning the move could have dire consequences that may lead to a fourth lockdown.
One cannot declare the pandemic vanquished ahead of the elections when the country remains under the threat of yet again shuttering the economy.
This makes Netanyahu's post about the vaccines something of a contingency plan, but it remains to be seen whether this plan will prove effective.
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