It seems PM Netanyahu is on a streak of failures. This might be the new Bibi, as he used to be considered the magician who could pull a success out of almost any seemingly bad situation. The latest is the failure to pass the law he tried to ram through the Knesset, against the wishes of the Attorney General, mandating the ability to document polling stations by video.

The thing is, Netanyahu did not work on this law for a reasonable amount of time, trying to obtain support of the various parties, leading a public debate as to the necessity of such a law, and all the normal process of passage of an important law. He just tried to ram it through and calling on, or demanding from, his potential coalition partners to support his position, and even pitting Right against Left on an issue that has no reason to be a right-left issue. As much as the Right has historically, and currently, accused the Left and Arabs of cheating in elections, the Left has accused the Right, the Settlers and the Haredim of cheating in elections. If done properly, such a law could easily be supported by a large majority of parliamentarians.

Netanyahu almost surely knew in advance that the law had little chance of passing. If he had the numbers supporting him, he would have been able to form a coalition. So he knows he does not have the numebrs and would not be able to pass the law. This was really all for show. Netanyahu wanted to show the voters on the Right that he is working for them to try to stop the cheaters on the Left. He wanted to show that the cheaters on the Left have no shame and publicly just want to continue cheating. He wants to show that anything he does, even a good thing, will be blasted by everyone opposed to him, even illogically.

And, Netanyahu wanted to blame Avigdor Leiberman for more problems. Netanyahu blames Lieberman for the elections, despite the fact that it is Bibi who led the initiative to disperse the Knesset and go to elections rather than return his mandate to the President. Lieberman did not join his government because Bibi and his partners would not agree to his demands, but Bibi led the way to elections rather than letting the process continue. And now Bibi is blaming Lieberman for the fall of the camera law, because Lieberman did not support it.

Lieberman owes Bibi nothing. he had no obligation to join his government and he had no obligation to support Bibi's silly law. For 13 years, plus an additional 3 before that, Bibi could have worked on passing such a law when he was leading relatively stable governments. He did not, but only decided to do it now when he has no government and a minority of support. Lieberman is not in his coalition and owes him nothing. Bibi seems to think that blaming Lieberman for his failures will bring him votes. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. That remains to be seen. It does seem, to me, that the people are just no longer buying Bibi's lokshen, as they say in Hebrew.