A unique leadership test for the Change Bloc
Merav Betito's opinion column in ynet: the Change Bloc did not win the election but did not lose it either, and its leaders — Eisenkot, Bennett, Liberman, Golan and Lapid — must decide who will be their balance of power. The writer calls on them to set conditions for every possible partner and not to forfeit the public's trust.
The bloc may not have won the election, but it did not lose it either — so opens Merav Betito's opinion column in ynet, which asserts that the leaders of the Change Bloc received the public's trust and must now not forfeit it. According to her, this is a unique leadership test, made up of particles of political ego, statements scattered before the election and promises that cannot be kept. The writer names Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Liberman, Yair Golan and Yair Lapid as those required to decide who will be their balance of power. She notes that the bloc received 19 seats, and argues it has the power to form a unity government in exchange for conditions: with Likud — weaning off the ideas of the judicial coup, a state commission of inquiry into the October failures and a term limit for the prime minister; with the Haredi parties — a commitment to equality in the burden; and with the Arabs — agreements on national service and in exchange for senior roles that do not touch state security. Betito determines that a clear decision will no longer come, and therefore there is no point in another election. She criticises the fact that the parties promised "we will not sit with the Arabs", except Golan, and argues they chained themselves to the idea of the order outlined by Netanyahu. According to her, they should rely on dry facts: 3,800 Arabs enlisted for military or civilian service in 2022–2023, double the official figures on Haredi servicemen. She adds that it is doubtful whether the bloc's leaders understood that thanks to hundreds of thousands of Arab citizens going to the polls, they can advance moves such as ousting Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and appointing a representative of their own.