Election Battle Lines Form Around Right-Wing Imitation and Netanyahu’s Trial Ends
With Israel’s next election still about four months away, the article argues that the decisive campaign issue is already clear: which politicians are masquerading as right-wingers to win right-wing votes. It names Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot and Avigdor Lieberman as the main examples, saying all three are trying to hide their real positions, emphasize security themes and avoid explaining which coalition they would actually form.
Bennett is cited as having been forced this week to say that, if he led a government, construction in Judea and Samaria would stop and any illegal outpost, farm or building would be evacuated. He also said Areas A and B belong to the Palestinian “autonomy” under the Oslo Accords, not Israel. The writer says this exposed a gap between Bennett and more ideological right-wing voters who had considered backing him because of their dislike of Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
Eisenkot is presented as less fluent in right-wing rhetoric but increasingly tailored by advisers to appeal to voters unhappy with the current government. The article says he now stresses a hard security line and military decision-making, while downplaying his previous preference, when he sat in the small war cabinet, for ending the war through a political deal. Lieberman is described as the most seasoned of the three, having built his career on anti-Arab and anti-Haredi messaging while repeatedly softening or abandoning those positions when entering government. He now says he would not join a coalition with Netanyahu’s Likud, Smotrich, Ben Gvir, Shas or United Torah Judaism, which the article portrays as further evidence of evasion.
The piece then turns to coalition politics, saying the question voters must ask is not just who they prefer, but which partners that candidate will bring with them. It says the current Knesset’s final stretch is also focused on legislation Netanyahu wants to advance, especially a national commission of inquiry law into the events of October 7. The article says Netanyahu is pushing the bill with the ultra-Orthodox factions, Dגל התורה and Shas, and may also advance a Torah study basic law and a law blocking arrests of yeshiva students. It claims the State Comptroller already has completed October 7 investigations, including the Nova festival massacre, but is barred from releasing them by court order, and says Netanyahu wants to keep the inquiry away from Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and the attorney general.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu finished testifying in his trial after what he called “10 years of hell.” He said, “I am finishing, after 10 years of hell, there is no other word,” and described the case as “vicious, false, malicious,” aimed at harming not only his personal rights but the public’s right to choose him. The article says his lawyers and the judges have repeatedly shortened and canceled hearings because he is prime minister, and it portrays the trial as a legal farce that has damaged the state’s image and functioning.
