A Kahanist virus in the Likud

The day before yesterday in the evening, as reported by Yinon Magal, apparently from the horse's mouth, an emergency meeting was held in Benjamin Netanyahu's office. It was not Iran, not Hamas, and not Hezbollah that were on the table, but the fear, perhaps staged, that Tally Gotliv and May Golan might steal the mandate after the elections and move to Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit. It is just not clear why Golan and Gotliv specifically arouse this fear. After all, the Likud has undergone a process of Kahanization in recent years. Golan was already a candidate for the Knesset on behalf of "Otzma LeYisrael", which is identified with the far-right. But why should anyone move to Ben Gvir's party when the differences between the two parties are being erased? Ben Gvir did not move closer to the Likud. The Likud moved closer to Ben Gvir.

I wish it were possible to claim that the primaries caused the radicalization. True, in recent weeks we have witnessed a competition between the candidates: who will express a more extreme position against the Attorney General, against the Supreme Court, against anyone considered part of the "deep state". Among the primary candidates, almost not a single word was heard about the real issues on the agenda - Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. After all, the failure of the right-wing government is of historical magnitude. So what is left? To send not only an accusing finger but also a swinging fist to ensure that immediately after the elections, they will restore order, and perhaps even put the imaginary enemies on trial. Excuse me?! You were in power. Right-wing to the fullest. Instead of initiating a judicial reform, and there is a need for reform, you formulated predatory proposals that even influential followers of reform, including yours truly, were unable to digest. So now you remembered? Now you are threatening? This suits Ben Gvir. Not a ruling party.

But it turns out that not only is the police already less the Israel Police and more the Ben Gvir Police. The Likud is also no longer the party of Menachem Begin and David Levy, but the party of Gotliv and Golan. But I wish it were just about the whims of the primaries. After all, this is a process that has been going on for years. In 2022, Benjamin Netanyahu refused to be photographed with Ben Gvir. This did not stop him from uniting Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and thus granting him legitimacy. And the Likud Knesset members, without any connection to the primaries, come to receive a hug and a photo with Kahane's successor in the Knesset. Minister May Golan, in person, declared that "there are no ideological gaps between Otzma Yehudit and the Likud". And Tally Gotliv, it is worth mentioning, praises and lauds Ben Gvir. He already offered her to join his party. Certainly. It is hard to find differences between him and her. And MK Nissim Vaturi declared that "Kahane was right about many things, today he would have received the Israel Prize".

There are those who will argue that there is no importance to the results of the primaries. After all, in the end, with nine of Benjamin Netanyahu's reserved spots, and with decision-making on fateful issues that the Likud Knesset members are not partners in - then there is nothing to worry about. After all, Benjamin Netanyahu, despite everything, is still the responsible adult of the right. He will decide. He will navigate. But this is an illusion. Because when the power of the Kahanists among the Likud Knesset members grows, or when Kahanism takes over them, Benjamin Netanyahu's supposedly real fear of defection to Otzma Yehudit will become a real fear. At least some of the Kahanists know that Benjamin Netanyahu did not want them on the list. And those among them who were elected yesterday not only owe him nothing, but they will increase the dosage of defiance. On a day of testing, Ben Gvir will have more votes in the Knesset than those who were elected within the framework of Otzma Yehudit. One must, of course, hope that these Kahanists, from both parties, will move to the opposition. But the ways of politics are wonderful. The worst could happen.

Let us not forget. Hooligans have always been in Israel, as they are in every country. But together with the strengthening of Kahanism in the Likud, there is also a phenomenon of hooligans who curse, threaten, and here and there are violent. The right claims, with a certain degree of justice, that the phenomenon of persecuting politicians from the right, in a very impolite way, also exists from the left. But there is a difference. The hooligans on the right receive honor and respect from the party leadership. Because all of them, or some of them, belong to the group of party enrollers. Gotliv expressed a desire to marry one of them. It is not by chance that it is the same one, David Mordechai, who is also a close associate of Ben Gvir. Politics, bullying, and Kahanism go together. We know from the leaks who Benjamin Netanyahu wants at the top of the list. Precisely those who are a little less screechy and certainly less Kahanist. But now he is cooking exactly the porridge he cooked. And it is a porridge that is not to the taste of many Likud voters. They are right-wingers. They are not Kahanists. Menachem Begin built a wall between them and the Likud. Benjamin Netanyahu destroyed it. This wall must be built again. For the good of Israel. For the good of the right.