The government that will be sworn in today, if there is no unexpected abstention by an MK with a conscience, is a mutation of parliamentary government. There is no connection between the will of the public, as expressed in the March 23 election, and the government coalition being presented today.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Yair Lapid and the six dwarves are not something that can be presented as a legitimate government that reflects democratic values. In that sense, the Israeli democracy crisis is occurring in parallel to the paralysis of democracy in the US. US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is only steps away from the Oval Office, is a candidate who dropped out of the presidential race early on due to a lack of public support. Now she's responsible for handling crucial areas of American policy.
In Israel, what is notable is the tone-deafness of Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked. What self-respecting political leader would be willing to take the lofty position of prime minister without winning the election, but rather by tricks and manipulations? It doesn't seem to bother Bennett.
His partner, Shaked, cooperated with the campaign of anarchistic incitement against the prime minister while the COVID pandemic was still raging.
"The Netanyahu-Nissankoren government has committed a crime against the citizens," she screamed on the Ynet website. She adopted the mendacious propaganda narrative of the black Left, and said that decisions to limit gatherings and instate lockdowns had been made based on Prime Minister Netanyahu's political considerations and were designed to prevent protests against him. In the latest round of fighting in Gaza, we saw the last round of the lie. Bennett will wind up losing the support of most of the people who voted for his party.
The Bennett-Shaked, Lapid, and Mansour Abbas alliance is an expression of a deep-seated preference. Some of the religious Zionist elite prefers a "new synthesis," as columnist Israel Harel called it. This is a synthesis of Right and Left, with people from Meretz and people from the settlements standing on each other's necks. But this also entails forgoing a connection to the people, while at the same time smashing the positive wave Israel has been riding for the last decade.
Despite the difficulties in swallowing a Bennett-Abbas government, we have no choice but to wish it success. We are along for the ride, and we want the pilots to do what pilots do in order to avoid a crash. So for the sake of order and to send a message of domestic reconciliation, power should be transferred in an orderly manner, as is customary – even when it goes from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Prime Minister-designate Naftali Bennett.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
