Finally. After so many years of being treated like a third wheel, Yamina is standing up to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu demanded loyalty and everything else from Yamina leading up to, and after, the elections over the past year. And Yamina delivered. They might not realistically have had any other option anyway, but like Deri and Litzman and Gafni, Yamina leaders all expressed unwavering support for Netanyahu time and again.

Yet since coalitions talks began, Netanyahu has treated them like a third wheel, as he has in the past. For his Haredi partners he made sure to keep the positions they want available. The negotiations with them were so smooth that Gafni said it surprised him as being the first time they did not even have to negotiate anything. the entire agreement was signed in 7 minutes, Gafni said, and they got everything they wanted. With Yamina the negotiations have dragged on and we've heard different, and sometimes conflicting, reports about what they are being offered and what they are demanding and if Netanyahu and his people are even talking to them or just using them as a "warning" to Kachol Lavan and all the rest of the political games we regularly see. Maybe they need to be more realistic in Yamina and maybe they are asking for too much - I don't know and that's irrelevant to my point - if Netanyahu was returning the loyalty he so strongly demanded of them, he would find a way to make it work in a reaosnable way relatively quickly.

So now Yamina is responding in kind. They are saying they are not going to be so quick to sign for Netanyahu's mandate, should he need it. They are using it as a negotiating tool. If this ends up in elections again, either because the deal falls through or because the Supreme Court intervenes, Yamina might not have Netanyahu's back (even though he won't have any real opponent this time).

Now they just have to stand strong on their threats. If Netanyahu calls their bluff and they cave, we'll know nothing has changed.