The Magician 2.0: Lieberman Has Cracked Netanyahu's Method
While Bennett, Eisenkot, and 'Likud B' capture the spotlight, Avigdor Lieberman is quietly building a young right-wing team, aiming to lead the bloc. Meanwhile, a question for the 120 Knesset members: what have you actually done to combat the cost of living?
Any magician will tell you: if you press him, he will admit that the magic actually happens on the other side. His role is to direct the audience's gaze in a specific direction, to deceive them, to perform the trick, and then—amazement, enthusiasm, and applause. In Israeli politics, there is one person who has earned this title, whether as a compliment or an insult. But quietly, a successor has risen, and it is someone whom Netanyahu definitely did not appoint himself.
Pay attention to where the eyes of the Israeli public are directed. Political attention is currently focused on Naftali Bennett, running for Prime Minister on his own behalf and on behalf of the polls; Gadi Eisenkot, who attracts refreshing attention because he has yet to disappoint anyone and has the right Israeli story that touches the heart; and Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein, two 'elegant right-wingers' bringing 'Likud B'. They are acting exactly according to Netanyahu's method, who worked on the eight mysterious reserved spots that intrigue more each day, as he was the first to understand that Likud needs a literal facelift.
But while there is a battle over who is the more 'normal right-winger' (someone who presents a strong security position, demands conscription for all, and has high-level people on his list), there are those who have already cracked the method. This politician is Avigdor Lieberman, the long-time chairman of the party he founded with his own hands, Yisrael Beiteinu. The process his party is undergoing is politically fascinating. A party that began as one dedicated to immigrants from the Soviet Union and was later a partner of Likud, is now recruiting those very 'normal right-wingers'. Casting after casting, quietly and without podium shouting or empty promises, Lieberman's list is leaving Bennett's list in the dust.
Lieberman is following Netanyahu's reserved spots method: right-wing, refreshing, professional, young. This will be the basis of Netanyahu's casting list. Yisrael Beiteinu, once a sectoral party, has renewed itself into an Israeli party. Lieberman makes all decisions himself, following Yair Lapid's 'Yesh Atid' method: a sparkling team surrounding one leader who makes all the decisions (regards to democracy and all that).
But notice the bottom line: Lieberman will not be a 'kingmaker'. In closed rooms, those closest to him swear that Avigdor 'will not surrender' because his motto is 'anyone but Bibi'. There is no chance he will join a Netanyahu government, unlike Bennett, Benny Gantz, or Erdan. The Yisrael Beiteinu platform promises to sit only with Zionist parties. Well, history remembers Yisrael Beiteinu sitting quite nicely with Mansour Abbas's Ra'am. And if the goal is 'anyone but Bibi', how does this work out numerically? Perhaps the day of Magician 2.0 is not far off. He will be the one to lead the bloc and become the successor in the 'day after'.
Everything is expensive. I am not crying, just August got into my eye. In our Israeli mentality, when brave soldiers are killed every week, the priority order is clear: security first. But I ask myself: are those 120 Knesset members and ministers dealing solely with security? Maybe there are those who deal a lot with primaries, self-promotion in the media and social networks? If every public representative had decided to promote only one thing that improves the cost of living, we could have had a paradise here. Or we could have at least tried.
For many years, the left inscribed this struggle on their banner, but they lacked the power. The right neglected the event. With all due respect to the 'country's basket', a round in an Israeli supermarket compared to the rest of the world is illogical. As part of the right's race for renewal, here is an opportunity to deal with it for real, to break the unbearable monopolies that rule the market. So that Israelis look at their bills and stop screaming, wondering where the tax money—paid in extraordinary percentages—is actually reflected.
Black swan. After a 25-year break, the spirit moved me to return to ballet. I investigated where it is toughest and most achieving. I put on a leotard, tights, the bun of a lifetime, and shelved the tutu idea—after all, how much equipment can one take away from children? I was greeted by a ballet teacher in soccer shorts and socks, but how she moved... damn it. When the piano music started, I flew with her. Plié, relevé, arabesque, pas de bourrée, pirouettes—the body remembers, it really does. Love for dance is for life. So with your permission, for a few days I will continue to smear Voltaren and complain: 'Wow, the back, the back.' And Baryshnikov, dear, get ready for a replacement.
