Unfortunately, and this is from both directions, they all feel the need to burn bridges. 

The people he has sat with against Netanyahu for the past 3 or so years have been attacking him for joining with Netanyahu now as if he is the devil, though until now he is fine and was even praised for opposing Bibi. And same from the other direction - Saar is throwing nasty shots at the people he just sat with for 3 years against Bibi while until now they were fine enough to work with now he is throwing pot shots.

This is the kind of behavior that needs to end. Even if it wont necessarily prevent anyone from working together int he future - Saar just joined with Netanyahu despite both having said nasty things about each other over the past few years, so in Israeli politics a burned bridge can still often be rebuilt, we still need better public discourse.

byachad nenatzeach - together we will win - is not just together with the people you [currently] agree with and like but it is, or should be, together with everyone, even the ones you disagree with.

Supposedly his peers calmed him down and he went back in.

The one thing not reported about this is who are the idiots Saar was referring to - his fellow negotiators or the people on the opposing negotiating team?

Inquiring minds want to know...

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I dont know much about Eizenkot. He brings value with his name and seems to be popular, though by now we all know that success in the IDF does not necessarily translate to success in politics. We shall yet see what his beliefs are (some are claiming his political beliefs are closer to extreme left than center right), and more importantly whether he has staying power and if he has what it takes to build a political base and not just ride on his name. 

I think Matan Kahane joining with Eizenkot and Saar/Gantz is a good move for him and for them. I believe he has enough of a political following and will bring some additional support to the party, and it gives Kahane a good platform for his ideas. I like that he is interested in the religious side of Israel and wants to improve and change things for the better (though plenty disagree that it is for the better, but from his perspective it is). Most parties and politicians until now, all of them actually, preferred to not be interested at all in religious affairs and would just outsource all religious issues to the Haredi parties. I think it is good that other people are actually interested in them and not just pawning them off out of disinterest. 

Interestingly, MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ), who until now has supposedly unofficially blacklisted Matan Kahane warning, supposedly, other parties that if they bring him into their ranks UTJ wont work with them in the future, reportedly said that this is a fatal mistake. Gafni has been floating rumors that if Netanyahu does not garner 61 mandates in the upcoming elections, all bets are off and they could potentially work with Benny Gantz in forming a coalition. Until now all the other parties (except for Lieberman's) have been tiptoeing around the Haredim since this election cycle began, even though the Haredi MKs keep saying they will only work with Netanyahu and even go with him to the Opposition, hoping that they could draw the Haredim into a possible centrist coalition. Gafni is the only one who has said this is possible, and even Gafni himself said the other day, after a talk with Netanyahu, that he wont go to a coalition with anyone else, only the Right behind Netanyahu. So I am not sure what Gafni is now saying the merge with [Eizenkot and] Kahane is a fatal mistake if he wont work with them anyway. He said he wont work with them and only with Netanyahu a thousand times, including just a couple of days ago, after saying once or twice that Gantz is a possibility, so if that door was actually ever open, which is unlikely and probably just false hope, it seems now to be closed.

Overall, Eizenkot and Kahane joining Gantz and Saar, I think, is a good move for them all. We'll see how long it last though. And we'll see if it helps them either form a coalition or prevent Netanyahu form forming one. Likud also courted Eizenkot, so presumably this could potentially pull away some voters Likud was trying to attract.

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I think that is a good move for both of them, and I like both of these parties, so I think it is good from that perspective as well. Maybe they can even get some momentum and become the second largest party behind the Likud, surpassing Yesh Atid. They are not far behind at this point and with a bit of work they might be able to do it.

I just dont like that it looks like they might be dumping Yoaz Hendel, but that would not, should not, be a deal breaker.

  -- Justice Minister Gideon Saar

I agree with Saar. It is nobody's fault that a terrorist decided to attack and kill Jews - that is, nobody's fault other than the terrorists and those supporting them. It was not Netanyahu's fault when he was Prime Minister and it is not Bennett's fault now that he is Prime Minister. It is also not Bar Lev's or Gantz's or the entire government together. 

That being said, it is the government's responsibility to bring a sense of security back to the nation. It wont happen in one day, but the people want and need to see that the government is working to put down the terrorism and keep us safe.

In Erdan's planif a marijuana user was caught, the first two times he might get a fine of 1000nis and 2000nis respectively. The third time a file will be opened.  From the fourth time and on, an indictment can be served. 

Gideon Saar will change this and will not consider it criminal at all, except in unusual circumstances.  People with a criminal past will no longer be excepted, and there will be no difference between being caught once, twice or ten times - the maximum fine when applicable will be 1000nis no matter how many times it has happened. Soldiers, Police officers and Prison guards, along with minors, will be excepted from this and it will be considered a crime.

So, free adults, toke up, though responsibly please.

When compared to Saar's pla, Erdan's doesnt really look so great anymore. Erdan was coming from nothing though - it was fully criminal at the time, so that was a significant change, but Saar's goes much further in legitimizing it. 

While the push now for term limits has been criticized recently as a "personal" law, as it was thought to be pushed simply as a way to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu from returning to the Prime Minister's office, in Saar's proposal he is reportedly excluding Netanyahu from this limit - Netanyahu would be able to run for office again, even if this law will pass.

This is not a personal law, just good governance.

I have always been in favor of term limits and have complained for a long time about the lack of them. I have also been against personal laws, whether proposed during Netanyahu's days against people the government at the time didn't like, and when it has been directed against Netanyahu and his people as well. Saar showed that this is not an anti-Netanyahu law but a good government law.

In my opinion, term limits is necessary and is a good law. I am happy it won't be tainted as being anti-Netanyahu specifically.

 

1. I don't understand what Bennett is doing. If he wanted a Netanyahu government, he could have recommended Netanyahu to the President, instead of recommending himself. If he wanted a Lapid government, or a non-Netanyahu government, he could have recommended Lapid to the President instead of recommending himself (and he has done so previously). If he wanted to be Prime Minister and really thought he could with just 7 mandates, Lapid agreed to make him PM, he would just have to recommend Lapid. Does he want to be PM with 7 mandates but leading a Netanyahu government? What else could he possibly want that he did not already have the chance to achieve? Even if he joins Netanyahu and gets massive concessions from Bibi, that still does not give Bibi a government, unless he can also bring in Saar which seems unlikely.

So I don't understand Benett. I wonder if he has a massive rabbit in his hat (which he doesn't wear) or an ace up his sleeve and cannot wait to see what it is. Nothing else makes sense at this point.

2. I also don't understand what Saar is doing. He recommended nobody. He is refusing to join a Netanyahu government, and he refused to recommend Lapid or Bennett. So what does he want and what does he expect to happen? What is he willing to do and what type of government is he willing to join?

The only thing that sort of makes sense is if the two of them, both Bennett and Saar, are rejecting the Netanyahu coalition and the Lapid coalition and think they can somehow create a coalition led by them with the support/cooperation of Shas and UTJ along with Lapid. That still does not give them enough mandates to form a government, even if it could possibly happen, which is extremely unlikely and has already been rejected by the Haredi parties, so they would need to add parties such as either Labor or Lieberman - and the Haredim have already rejected sitting with them and some of them have rejected sitting with the Haredim. So they might be trying to work something like this out, but it does not seem to be a realistic possibility.

In general, and this does not apply to (or maybe applies less to) Bennett or Saar but to many of the other politicians involved in trying to form government coalitions, maybe stop bad-mouthing the people you might need tomorrow as partners. Likud and Smotritch have spent weeks bad-mouthing Bennett and Saar. Not that Bennett wont join a Likud government just because Likud has been bad-mouthing him, but it definitely adds to the complexity of the situations and makes it more complicated.

I am just waiting to see what rabbit Bennett is going to pull out of his hat, if he even has one. Nothing he is doing right now makes sense.

  -- PM Benjamin Netanyahu

after a Likud campaign activist violently attacked a Tikva Chadasha campaign activist and injured him seriously.

funny way to condemn the violence, as Netanyahu continues his strategy of making Saar look irrelevant. His strategy seems to be working well.

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and two in English...

I am not sure Netanyahu is really afraid of him...

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1. When Smotritch was Transportation Minister, the Left attacked him. When he sat int he opposition, they considered him legitimate. Now he is going towards a Netanyahu government so they are badmouthing him and Ben Gvir

2. Tomorrow I will present the financial stimulus plan. 750nis per citizen, 300nis or 500nis per child until the 7th percentile. This is salvation for families. I want to see Saar or Lapid voting against this

This is classic grandstanding.

The Likud never backed or supported Ben Gvir or his ilk, except when he could help them. And even then they did so very cautiously, like when Netanyahu says he is legitimate but we wont give him any power or influence. Even with Smotritch they were always cautious. And the Left always criticized him as well and wanted nothing to do with him, always considered him an extremist, even when he was in the Opposition. When in Opposition he didnt need or get legitimacy from the Left, as they were not giving him any jobs or power. 

And regarding voting for the financial plan, Saar is not a Member of Knesset or of the government. He will not be voting. I don't know if Lapid will support or oppose the vote, but Saar won't be doing anything - at most he might comment on it. Katz is just trying to set him up to look bad, making people think he is Opposition thinking only for himself and not for the people. He isn't anything right now.

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