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Jun 17, 2021
Dayeinu, Netanyahu
Dayeinu to MK Benjamin Netanyahu.
Dayeinu.
Enough is enough.
it is normal, it is obligated, it is expected. When a Prime Minister is replaced by a new Prime Minister, as bitter as the former PM might be for losing his position, he must pass the reigns graciously to the incoming Prime Minister. Personally he might nto want the new PM to succeed, so he can make his way back to the post as soon as possible, but the interests of the State must come before personal interests. The former PM must do the basic acts of passing the reigns and making sure the incoming PM has the necessary information to do the job.
It was nasty, but it was one thing when Netanyahu only allocated 20 minutes to meet with PM Naftali Bennett to do the "chafifa", the transition and pass over necessary information. There is no way 20 minutes is enough to get a Prime Minister up to speed. Previous Prime Ministers always made themselves fully available to pass along all the info to new Prime Ministers, until Netanyahu did this to Bennett.
Ok, dayeinu.
It was one thing when Netanyahu still has not packed up his clothes and moved out of the Prime Ministers residence in Jerusalem. The State should forcibly remove him, but if he needs a little more time, he should say he needs another week and get out. And he is holding meetings with officials and dignitaries in the house, as if he is still PM.
Ok, dayeinu.
Now Haaretz is reporting (behind paywall so see Hamechadesh) that Netanyahu and his people have been shredding documents from the Prime Ministers office, illegally, rather than leaving them for official collation and for Bennett's team to use and review.
I do not know if this is true or not, but it needs to be looked into. As bad as Netanyahu's bitter behavior has been, this is beyond the pale.
Netanyahu is not interested in the success of the State at all. He has put his own interests above the interests of the State, and a Prime Minister cannot do that. He might put enough obstacles in Bennett's way to make an already shaky position and coalition that much more unstable, but I hope he won't be rewarded for it. he deserves to be condemned for the way he is handling this transition.
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Hi Rafi,
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog for many years.
I am very disappointed with your approach to Bennett’s betrayal of his voters. Your approach can be summarized as you understand why his voters are upset, but you don’t seem to realize with moral clarity that this was clearly completely wrong without any justification.
Let’s simplify this – and I will provide evidence:
Step 1: most of Bennett’s voters assumed (based on his clear statements) that his position was that if a coalition could not be formed with the “Right” then they would go to new elections
Step 2: This is not just an ordinary campaign promise – this is the most fundamental thing that his voters wanted!!! Either a right wing government or new elections!
The other parties similarly had the attitude “Either someone other than Netanyahu or new elections”!
Step 3: Since Bennett betrayed his voters on their most fundamental reason for voting for him, a great moral and ethical wrong has taken place. He has betrayed his voters and made a joke of democracy. This is no different than if the Meretz party would try to institute Shmiras Shabbos throughout Israel!
Here is the evidence for Step #1:
After Bennett betrayed his voters, the polls showed that if elections were held, he wouldn’t even pass the threshold!
Obviously, his voters believed – as he himself said – that he would not join a leftist government.
And a member of Yamina left the party for this very reason. He didn’t want to betray the voters. This Knesset member also understood that this was his party’s pledge to their voters.
There is no excuse that 5th elections would be bad for the country – that is for the voters to decide, not Bennett. If he thought that elections would be so bad, then he could have told his voters that he will do everything to avoid 5th elections even if he needs to join with the left. He didn’t do that because he knew they wouldn’t vote for him!! Or he could have gone to 5th elections and said that he will join the left to avoid 6th elections – he couldn’t do that because – again – no one would vote for him! This was a clear cut betrayal of what he told his voters.
(As a side irrelevant point, 5th elections must not be so bad, as none of the other parties were willing to cave in and join Netanyahu to avoid 5th elections).
More than I am bothered by Bennett’s betrayal, I am bothered that so many people have distorted what has taken place and don’t realize that this was immoral, unethical, and a terrible betrayal of voters.
In addition, there is the utter hypocrisy of saying that Netanyahu needs to be replaced for his ethics violations, when what Bennett has done is so much worse on a fundamental level – he betrayed the democratic system.
I appreciate this great blog that you have. I just know that you are very wrong regarding this. I would appreciate a detailed response, thank you!
MM
1. I agree, I might be wrong
Delete2. I dont think I ever said Netanyahu must be replaced for ethical violations. I have said that I beleieve in term limits and think Netanyahu has been in power too long. That corrupts and his interests and continued rule become priority to him over the State, or at least mingled and intertwined in some way. i think it is good for a country to refresh its leadership. The law allowed him, for whatever reason, to continue serving even under indictment and I do not believe I ever said he should not be allowed to continue because of that.. I did think his time should be up, but for other reasons.
3. even if everything you say is 100% correct, the fact is that the parliamentary system is built in a way that has allowed Bennett to become Prime Minister. That very well could be a fault,. and I have said so already, and I do believe we need electoral reform in Israel in a massive way (and not just in little bits that help this or that candidate at any given time), but for now the fact is that Bennett has become Prime Minister and Netanyahu must respect that and transfer power properly, as much as he doesnt have to like it.
Among my friends, many people (including myself) voted for Bennet SPECFICALLY because we thought he was the least likely to force a 5th election.
DeleteLook at the polls before the election, they were not based on right vs left, rather pro-Bibi vs Anti-Bibi, and Yamina (together with Raam) were placed in the middle. I.e, many voters were in the Bibi Camp (either Bibi or 5th election), or the Anti-Bibi Camp (not Bibi or the election), but Bennet voters were in both camp, or neither - i.e. a vote for Bennet was primarily a vote against a 5th election
I wanted to vote against a 5th election, which is why I voted Bennet. My preference would have been for a right-wing coalition, which Bennet would have supported, but Bibi, Smotritch, Liberman, and Saar made that impossible.
Given that the choice was either a broad coalition (from Extreme right to extreme left) or a 5th (and 6th, 7th, 8th election), Bennet lived up to expectations of many of his voters and worked to prevent a 5th election.
I agree with everything you wrote, Rafi, but it sounds as if you're surprised. Netanyahu's character is coming clear to you only now?
ReplyDeletethis shredding documents accusation, if true, really takes the cake. Likud put out a statement a short while ago denying the allegations saying it doesnt even make sense as everything is digitized and saved in the computer system..
DeleteThank you, Rafi.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry if I wrote anything harsh or incorrect.
All the best,
MM
all good here. thanks
Delete