On the wrong foot: The primaries, the campaigns, and the collapse of the cases

One can only imagine how the members of this bizarre group, elected in the Democrats' primaries, will function if they enter to lead government ministries in the event of an opposition victory in the elections. One hundred percent agenda, zero percent performance.

Claims of failures and irregularities in the primaries held this week in the Democrats party. A record number of members joined the far-left party in recent weeks and participated in the elections in huge numbers. 97 thousand people exercised their right - 86% of all eligible voters. In the Likud, for example, less than 60% participate regularly, so this is definitely an exceptional achievement.

Of course, what helped achieve the high participation rate, which was immediately translated by the party leaders into creating a sense of momentum and support, was the fact that the party exceptionally allowed computerized voting via an app on mobile phones, without physical polling stations and without the need for presence at voting sites. A practice usually reserved for exceptional situations and times of emergency, like during COVID, or when Home Front Command guidelines do not allow voting with physical gathering.

One of the heads of the headquarters of one of the prominent figures who ran in the primaries, who also serves in the Knesset, followed closely the growth that was swelling in the voter registry in the days before the closing of the voter registry, which was set for a week before the primaries. On the night between Friday and Saturday, the last one before the closing, he checked the status of the registered members around one in the morning, and when he got up in the morning to open the computer at six in the morning, he discovered that no less than 400 new members had joined that night. This aroused his suspicion. Both regarding the high number, and especially regarding the timing. Who decides to join a registry precisely in the dead of night and in such high numbers, he wondered.

The headquarters head's suspicion increased when he was exposed to a post written by the former CEO of the Labor party, Roi Shendler, in which he claimed that when he was in his position and it was suggested to him to hold internal elections in a computerized manner via an app, he rejected it after checking and finding a host of security problems that could arise as a result of this method. "I identify a real danger here," Shendler wrote. "In the current method, anyone who holds a large quantity of SIM cards and prepaid credit cards can, at least in theory, register thousands of people to the party, take over the verification process and vote in their place - without those people even knowing that they are party members." According to him, "in elections in this way, no one will see the faces behind the keyboard and it could be one person voting tens of thousands of times."

The Democrats' MKs, three in number, managed to secure the top spots in the primaries, something that party chairman Yair Golan knew how to leverage, when he was happy to announce the results at the list announcement event this week at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv. However, according to claims by sources connected to the party, the MKs won a built-in advantage that other candidates did not have: access to the details of the registered members, a claim that was denied by the party, as well as primary funding fees by the Knesset.

It turns out that even after the Labor and Meretz parties opposed the law initiated at the time by Dudi Amsalem from the Likud, none of the three MKs had a problem taking 275,916 shekels from the Knesset to fund their personal elections, money that was of course not available to candidates who are not MKs. Yair Golan was so proud of the election of Naama Lazimi, Gilad Kariv, and Efrat Rayten to the top spots, that he could not restrain himself and wait for the results to be verified for everyone by the party's election committee as is customary, and called to inform them personally of their achievements.

Before the elections, and in order to maintain the database of registered members, the party management decided that sending SMS messages for campaign purposes by the candidates would be done only by the party system. Each candidate was allocated three messages which they could transfer to the party and it was the one that sent them to all registered members in accordance with the database accumulated by it. However, from testimonies that reached "Maariv", it appears that Gilad Kariv, for example, one of the prominent and popular MKs in the Democrats, sent no less than 9 SMS messages to registered members, three times what the party decided.

In the Democrats, they claim that in the event that messages were sent not through the party system by MKs or other candidates, this was done not through the official database of registered members, which as mentioned was kept in secrecy, but through other databases that the various candidates established for themselves. Despite the determination, other claims were heard that many registered members, who did not give their details to anyone except in the registration form, also miraculously received SMS messages from various candidates. If the database of registered members was kept in secrecy, how did they receive such messages anyway? They wondered. And there is no answer.

The list that was elected from Yair Golan's perspective - a dream list, literally. Towards the Knesset elections, he could not have asked for a better list. It has everything from everything - MKs who are considered in the camp to be efficient and excellent. Fighting in the trenches and in the squares. Sharp-tongued and efficient parliamentarians. And also well-known and recognized protest activists. And also the return of the Meretz party, which was erased from the map in the last elections, which will receive two representatives in realistic spots, which will restore the crown to its former glory, and the party that the public kicked with disgust back to the center stage.

However, from the perspective of the general public, the one that does not live in the echo chamber of the radical left, this is a nightmare list, no less. An eclectic group of personalities and figures, from the most delusional fringes of Israeli society. People who not only did not learn a single thing from the October 7 massacre which they wave fiercely in their protests against the government, but even use it to hold and even empower the righteousness of their dangerous and delusional path, according to which the only way to deal with those murderers, rapists, and kidnappers, is by way of peace and reaching out, handing over additional parts of the land for the construction of their murderous terror nests, and further strengthening the unbridled dictatorship of the judicial system, which has removed from itself in recent years any weight of control and supervision.

Those same MKs and the rest of the group of delusional people elected this week, most of whom at least according to the polls will see the plenum from the inside, boast of exceptional management and leadership ability, first-class parliamentary fighters, who did not manage to manage even an opposition and did not shorten the days of the government, which they define as the most failing in the history of the country, even for a day. One can only imagine how the members of this delusional group will function, if they enter to lead government ministries, in the event of an opposition victory in the elections. One hundred percent agenda, zero percent performance.

The surrender of the Democrats' members, like the rest of the opposition members, to the fanatics of the protest movements is total. There is no value, as sublime or elevated as it may be, that could overcome the political consideration of the base, which enjoys the full support of central media outlets and senior commentators. Even the disgraceful decision to prevent the entry of Channel 14 staff to cover the political event this week, was met with applause from those who call themselves democrats.

In Yair Golan's speech, the party chairman outlined the next challenge of his party in a situation where it will be part of the government: closing Channel 14 and all media outlets that do not believe in their liberal path supporting the path of dividing the land and the political solution, mass dismissals of all the outgoing government's appointees, while ensuring that all important office holders will obey them and their path and will not lead, heaven forbid, a worldview and moves that contradict their own.

These moves are important even more than Supreme Court decisions and the instructions of the law. Even when the district judge ruled that the party must settle the differences with Channel 14 in accordance with the spirit of the Supreme Court ruling on the subject, which obligates a party to admit for coverage any media outlet whatsoever, Yair Golan chose, with the encouragement of his Democrat friends, to leave them outside. Just like Yair Lapid's ignoring of the Attorney General's instruction to pass the approval of the water agreement with Hezbollah through the Knesset. The rule of law certainly, but selective. Only when it obligates the government, not them.

From the Democrats, it was responded: "This is what a celebration of democracy looks like - a huge number of almost 113 thousand citizens who chose to register for the party and were included in the voter registry. 'The Democrats' are proud of the overwhelming registration and the record-breaking turnout of 86 percent. The elections are digital and secured by strict standards for several years already. The State Comptroller also examined the registration mechanisms for 'The Democrats' and did not find any flaw in them. It is not possible to register with a prepaid credit card that is not personal to a private individual. Registration requires a unique phone number after identification before the voting center."

Straight to the trash

A rather forced storm arose after the publication of the Likud video in which Gadi Eisenkot is seen running to hug Mansour Abbas, while skipping over a figure representing "the unity of Israel". It is not clear what exactly the foam came out for. After all, Eisenkot, in his honesty, unlike others in his bloc, did not rule out relying on Ra'am and the Arab parties for the purpose of forming a government.

As part of the forced protest, it was claimed against the Likud that this is an injury to a bereaved father. It started when someone on the networks wrote that the artificial figure from the video that Eisenkot skips with his hug is similar to his son Gal who was killed in the war. It takes a developed imagination to reach this conclusion, and it takes a malicious imagination to accuse the Likud that this is what it aimed for.

In the response video of the Yashar! party, Benjamin Netanyahu is seen running straight into the arms of Yitzhak Goldknopf. Besides the lack of originality in the response videos that have already become a procedure for the Likud's network videos, the irony of fate, or the crying of reality, each in their own eyes, both videos are true. Goldknopf is a partner in the Netanyahu coalition. Mansour Abbas in that of Eisenkot. For better or worse. Any attempt to blur this, from this side or that side, will sin against the truth.

Inadvertently, Eisenkot's campaign headquarters fell exactly into the narrative that the Likud campaign has been working on for a long time - that in these elections, as in any election system, there are blocs, and there are camps. And for every candidate, as nice and sympathetic as he may be, there are no 61 mandates by himself but he comes with a whole package. Netanyahu goes with Itamar Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and the Haredi factions. Eisenkot goes with the Democrats and the Arab factions. Precisely the one who tries to hide this reality is the second group. In one response video, the chairman of Yashar! confirmed the known in advance.

The success of the opposition camp to divert the agenda to the issue of Haredi conscription and the burden of service succeeded much more than estimated. As of now, this is indeed a central issue, which manages to tear the right camp itself from within and thereby achieve its goal. The left, after all, has no chance for a government without a few right-wing votes that will cross sides, and if on an ideological background this is almost impossible, especially after October 7 and the tireless striving of the opposition leaders for a surrender deal with Hamas from the beginning of the way, there is nothing like the issue of Haredi conscription to arouse emotions and bring about the disgust of voters who ideologically are on the right but loathe the idea that the realization of the right-wing idea, in settlement, in other values, in weakening the judicial system before the elected echelon, must go with submissive partnership with the Haredi factions.

But beyond the dizzying success there is only one problem. The election campaign is only at its beginning. Holding a topic, as big and important as it may be, over weeks and months, is an impossible and inapplicable task. The murky anti-Haredi wave cannot hold for long. And in fact, already now it can be said that the peak is behind it. When the security and diplomatic arena is heating up, and the Iranian missiles are starting to approach the country's borders, and developments in Lebanon and Gaza are already on the agenda, there is not much chance for those who hope to reach the opening of the polling stations when the hatred of the Haredim is still burning, to achieve their task. No matter how much they try, and no matter how much the media will cooperate.

The coming weeks will mark the death throes of the forced campaign, and its place will be taken by life itself. The real priorities around which election campaigns have revolved for decades. And of course the rest of the spins, videos, scandals and other events that accompany campaigns from time immemorial.

Until that happens, in the Likud and the Haredi parties they prefer to keep a controlled distance from each other, and serve in this both sides. The sharp message against the leader of the Lithuanian stream Rabbi Dov Landau that came directly from the Prime Minister's office in the name of Netanyahu, could not have come into the world without the strategic thinking behind it. Not once did Netanyahu condemn rabbis, including those of partner parties in his coalition and on whom his government relies, but never with the same force and the same aggressiveness. The reason for this is simple: after being presented as someone who surrendered completely to the Haredi factions, in passing the Basic Law of Torah Study and the law of the opinion instruction to cancel the arrests of yeshiva students, the Prime Minister broadcasts, at least as of now, that he and the Haredim are not exactly the same thing. That he is not in their pocket as presented. And when needed, especially when the honor of IDF soldiers is on the agenda, he has no problem showing muscles against them.

The Haredim for their part have a coinciding interest. Netanyahu disappointed. His government, despite the promises, did not stand by its commitment to pass the central law they promised their voters and did not pass a conscription law. Their public will indeed mostly vote for what their rabbis will instruct them, but the fear of suppressing voting and lack of motivation to go to the polling station when the exact same coalition is on the agenda, brings them to the conclusion that at least for the time being and appearance, one should loosen a little from the built-in hug to Netanyahu, and broadcast that it is possible that in the next elections there may be surprises and other partnerships that will bring a different and different news to the sector.

Wolf, wolf

After the collapse of Case 4,000 with the judges' announcement even after Netanyahu's testimony that the prosecution failed to establish a charge of bribery, it seems that with the court going on recess until September, Case 2,000, the Noni Mozes case, is also facing a colossal collapse. This was after the first testimony of Ze'ev Elkin this week, who managed in one stroke of testimony (out of several more he will have later) not only to undermine the prosecution's thesis, but probably to erase it completely and leave from it dust and ashes that are not worth the paper it is written on.

The entire case is based on the recordings of Netanyahu and Mozes, in which the publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth is heard trying to persuade the Prime Minister to convince the owner of Israel Hayom, Sheldon Adelson, to reduce the distribution of his newspaper and support the Israel Hayom law initiated by several politicians in the name of Mozes and on his behalf. The entire case is based on the most essential core of the essential immunity that is required to be maintained for any politician whatsoever, Elkin said in his testimony. There is no Knesset member, minister or prime minister, who does not have give-and-take relations with the media. Defining favorable coverage as fraud and breach of trust should not only lead to all MKs having to stand in line for a criminal investigation, but the very definition of coverage as a criminal matter undermines the entire system of journalism and politics as it has been known for hundreds of years and all over the Western world.

After all, every scoop that a politician gives to a journalist can be included from today in the criminal definition of bribery or breach of trust, he said. The politician did a favor to the journalist and the media outlet with an exclusive story that benefits the newspaper. And in return, often receives a large picture or a flattering article. A picture or article if he had paid for it, its cost could have been estimated at tens of thousands of shekels and sometimes more.

In the prosecution, they tried to challenge his testimony and claim that the things are said out of bad faith, since Elkin is a minister in Netanyahu's government and is subject to his mercy. Interesting what you are saying, Elkin chuckled, because this fact did not stop you from including me in the list of prosecution witnesses, when I was on the other side of the barricade, in a party rival to Netanyahu. To testify for a politician who is politically against the Prime Minister is fine, but when he is for him it is suddenly unacceptable. The prosecution representatives were silent in embarrassment.

Elkin also said: the claim as if Netanyahu granted freedom of voting on the Israel Hayom law, which led to its approval in the first reading, as if within the framework of the deal with Mozes, is devoid of any basis. For the simple reason. It was my idea. Netanyahu did not want it at all. When I managed the coalition I had a method: every time we reached a broken trough, when coalition members acted on their own and we saw that we did not have a majority - we gave freedom of voting so that the matter would not be counted as a failure of the government. Elkin presented to the judges many cases where he used the same method in other votes.

Elkin, by the way, who was included in the list of prosecution witnesses, was not called to testify in the end, and now he serves as a defense witness. The reason that the prosecution preferred to skip his testimony is simple: they read the investigation material of what he said in the police in his testimony and understood that no good would come out of it for them. Elkin simply repeated one-to-one the same things. For the simple reason: they are the truth. This is really what happened. And not the debunked and false theses of the prosecution which, as has already been proven, are not looking for the truth and justice, but for the head of the Prime Minister.