Netanyahu and his party are sure the public will buy anything: no costume will help them

Every time we think we have reached the edge, the bar is crossed again and another red line collapses into a culture of intrigue and vileness. This time it was the words of Benjamin Netanyahu, which he allegedly said in a closed conversation, "so to speak."

In the remarks attributed to him, it was said that the law to freeze the arrests of ultra-Orthodox deserters failed and the Prime Minister intends to promote a conscription law in the future according to which anyone who does not study in a yeshiva will be drafted, and if they refuse — they will go to prison. It is hard to believe that there is anyone left in this universe who believes Netanyahu's lies, and one can only wonder how much audacity one person can contain.

Researcher Anthony Downs developed a theory that politicians and parties act to maximize the number of votes that will be cast for them, and essentially formulate policy as a means of achieving votes. This is indeed how many parties behave. Sometimes, to gain votes, they will cut corners, polish messages, and if necessary, even move closer to the rival party's position.

However, Downs argued in the same breath that parties cannot change ideologies completely, as if they were costumes, and that once a party has placed its values "on the market," it cannot suddenly abandon them, or change them radically, without being perceived as clearly untrustworthy.

But that is exactly what Netanyahu tried to do — to put on another costume. After he preferred the narrow interests of the fanatical ultra-Orthodox sect for four years, allowed it to loot billions at the expense of the Israeli public, and granted it delusional laws such as the law to freeze the arrests of deserters that distinguishes between blood and blood, a Basic Law: Torah Study that will allow mass evasion, and the law for gender segregation in academia that brings us closer to a Halachic state — after all these, does he dare to think that there is anyone who will believe him? Netanyahu probably thinks we are all stupid, and perhaps only thinks that his base is. But even there, there are already those who understand the performance and the fraud.

And so, ahead of the upcoming elections, Netanyahu and his advisors believe that it will be possible to throw sand in the public's eyes again even after the four years of terror they brought upon us. But after the October 7 massacre, after the systematic division and incitement and tearing the people to pieces, after the judicial coup and the dubious appointments, no costume will help anymore. In the end, everyone knows, and in the end, more and more citizens are fleeing from Netanyahu and the Likud like fire.

No costume will help Minister Israel Katz either, who is willing to sacrifice almost anything on the altar of the primaries. After he did not hesitate to reveal that American planes took off from Israel for attacks in Iran, information that the censorship forbade from publication, he embarked on a shameful show, criticized the Central Command chief in a live broadcast, and spoke about an intention to replace him.

How exactly does the costume that Katz put on, of a right-wing Defense Minister, fit with his handshake with Knesset member Yitzhak Goldknopf after the arrest law was approved that further harmed the IDF? And how does the costume fit with all the draft evasion laws?

Another costume that the Likud is now trying to wear, assuming that its voters will buy everything, is the sea of reserved spots that Netanyahu forced on the party. After he used the Gotlibs, the Amsalems, and the Karis, and incited them against the judicial system, the IDF, and all democratic institutions, now Netanyahu remembers that he wants a state-oriented party.

As if this party did not stand at the head of the worst government that ever arose for Israel, a nightmare government that refuses to recognize the President of the Supreme Court, the rulings of the High Court of Justice, and the Attorney General.

And so, as the hysteria increases against the backdrop of the approaching loss in the elections, more tricks and gimmicks appear. But this time, no costume will help anymore.