It seems the only thing happening today is Idit Silman announcing her resignation from the coalition, throwing the entire political situation into a tizzy. Will it lead to a new government in the current coalition? Will it lead to new elections? Will it calm down and will she reverse her decision? Will the Opposition find another defector? Will Yair Lapid be the Prime Minister over a caretaker government or will Bennett remain PM until elections (these two options depend on how the government falls, if it will) or neither? 

The news is reporting that the two political parties, Yamina (lef by Naftali bennett) and Tikva Chadasha (led by Gideon Saar) have just signed an agreement for sharing each party's excess votes with the other in the upcoming elections.

Yamina sent/went into the Opposition has brought about something interesting very quickly.

The job of parties in the Opposition is, on the one hand to protect its constituents interests from the government that might trample on the rights of others, and on the other hand to work to bring down the coalition.

Yamina complained that the Haredi parties did not fight for Yamina to be int he coalition and only made some statements as lip service. Bennett felt, or at least said, that the Haredi parties should have refused to enter the coalition without Yamina.

Today it is being reported that Yamina shockingly now has an agreement and working arrangement with Yisrael Beyteynu in the Opposition. Yamina is, for now, denying it saying Yisrael Beyteynu has become an anti-Jewish party that sent Israel to 3 rounds of elections and Yamina isnt working with them. Some might, or do, say that Bennett is somewhat at fault for the election rounds because of his original split and not passing the minimum threshold - so his accusation on YB rings hollow, and his response rings hollow.

MK Moshe Gafni spoke up today, in response to the initial accusation by Bennett that the Haredi parties did nothing to ensure Yamina's place in the coalition. Gafni said, "Yamina cannot come to us with complaints - what did they expect, that we will negotiate for them so they can get jobs, some of them being ones we wanted for us? Such a thing does not exist even between Shas and UTJ!"

Gafni is right. I said that myself (link above). That is not how it works. UTJ does not need to fight for Yamina, and without a formal agreement to stick together, each party only looks out for its own narrow interests. UTj doesnt need Yamina, when it can get whatever it wants from Netanyahu, so it has no need to fight for Yamina - definitely not without an actual agreement to do so.

But it works both ways. It is a two-way street.

Now that Yamina is in the Opposition, UTJ, Gafni, Netanyahu, Shas and all the other coalition members should not get upset when Yamina works against their interests. What does UTJ expect - that Yamina should not work together with Yisrael Beyteynu and Yesh Atid to bring down the government and to make trouble for the coalition? UTJ thinks Bennett should do things in the most inefficient way, fighting alone, so that UTJ's interests will be protected from Lieberman? UTJ let Yamina be pushed out but doesnt want Yamina to do anything effective against them? That is also not how it works. If they do not make a working arrangement with Lieberman to work to bring down the government I would be even more disappointed in Yamina. That is what their job calls for right now. They are not there to protect UTJ or Shas or Kachol Lavan or Likud or anyone in particular. They need to protect the interests of the Dati Leumi community, work to bring down the Coalition or to change it and to get themselves in to the government where they can have influence.Every party in the Opposition has that role.

1. With Rav Rafi Peretz splitting off from Yamina, Netanyahu's brilliance in political maneuvering comes through once again. Not because he got Peretz - that is not so important for anything besides Netanyahu's image and support in the right wing. Peretz is taking a job that is almost meaningless, so the job and connection is meaningless for everything except image. Netanyahu's brilliance is in being able to hold the Likud together, even while making almost every Likud politician unhappy, while ravaging [almost] every other party.

Netanyahu has now successfully dismantled Kachol Lavan, Yamina, Labor and the Labor-Gesher-Meretz bloc.

Netanyahu's leadership skills and political savvy will be, or should be, studied for generations.

2. With Rav Rafi Peretz splitting off from Yamina and Joining the Netanyahu-led coalition he has shown, again or further, how fragmented the Dati Leumi community leadership is. Peretz is well respected (though not necessarily as a politician), yet he broke a major promise to Ben Gvir for "the sake of unity" in the DL camp, and now he is breaking up that unity for a minor ministry in a bloated government. It is not even for anything important or significant.

Perhaps Bennett deserved such turnabout, as he himself did similarly in previous election cycles, but at least Bennett did it for fairly important and significant roles and influence. Peretz is doing it for a meaningless ministry with almost no authority created just for him to join the coalition. Anyone who criticizes Bennett for his past breakaways and splits but praises and supports Peretz is being hypocritical and vindictive. And Peretz is not just screwing Bennett and Shaked, but also Smotritch and his supporters.

I am amazed Mafdal/BayitYehudi/Yamina still has any voters and supporters at all. They have shown themselves time and again to be selfish politicians (as perhaps many are) with almost no influence.

 The news is reporting that senior officials in the Yamina party are upset, or perhaps disappointed is a better word, with the Haredi parties. They say that Gafni, Litzman and Deri should have all refused to join the coalition unless the entire bloc was taken in, meaning Yamina.

They are implying some unspoken understanding and are upset that the heads of the Haredi parties haven't lived up to it but are looking out for their own interests.

Sorry, Yamina, but that is not how it works. If the two parties made an official agreement, than it would be fair to demand upholding the agreement to only go in together. Yamina's commitment all along was to support Netanyahu, not to support UTJ or Shas. Yamina has a problem with Netanyahu, but that is not the fault of UTJ and Shas.

UTJ has its own problems now with Netanyahu, as some last minute requests to add clauses to the coalition agreement about religion and State issues are not being accepted (as of now), but I suspect that will work itself out one way or another and will not prevent UTJ and/or Shas from joining the coalition.  They have their own issues to deal with that for them take preference over helping Yamina, even if they wanted to (which they claim to be trying) - but with no commitment to a "brit achim" like Bennett had with Lapid in 2013, there is no reason for them to put their necks on the line for Yamina