An old list — bad news

Netanyahu is satisfied. And it is unclear why. We know—unless we are disconnected from reality—that there is a team that has led policy in recent years. We know that a ruling party whose leaders have presented failures must settle accounts with those responsible. In the UK, for example, much smaller failures have caused the replacement of prime ministers again and again. And what about us?

There are unofficial smiles about the fact that some of the figures Netanyahu did not want were pushed to the margins of the list or did not reach realistic spots at all. Wonderful? Not at all. There is no innovation in the list of those elected to the first twenty spots. Eli Cohen, Israel Katz, Gideon Sa'ar, Miri Regev, Yoav Kisch, Miki Zohar, Amichai Chikli, David Amsalem, and Haim Katz were all members of the government. They are the ones who supported the "great strategist" who managed to lead Israel to both the worst massacre in its history and the most serious political crisis. They are responsible, together with Netanyahu, for transferring huge budgets to draft dodgers and neglecting those who serve. Instead of fixing the judicial system, they led us to the greatest rift in the country's history.

So what is Netanyahu happy about? We are getting the same lady in a different outfit. None of those elected in the primaries to realistic spots were willing to take responsibility and say: "We were wrong." Soul-searching is necessary. There were some stammers immediately after the October 7 massacre, but everyone was silenced. Everyone became "whitewashers." Everyone, with Netanyahu at the head, tried to point the accusing finger at others. Worse, some of those elected encouraged the theory of betrayal—explicitly or implicitly. This abominable theory receives support from many Israelis because senior politicians spread it. Qatar and Iran would pay any amount to spread a theory that harms national resilience. But there is no need; the work of the wicked is done on a voluntary basis by cynical and foolish politicians.

The composition of the list makes it clear that the Likud is not embarking on a new path, but continues to walk the old one, with a red flag of failure hanging over it. A new leader was not elected in the primaries; Eli Cohen, who reached first place, is a pleasant man, but he has no pretensions to be the leader. And the one who follows him is the Minister of Defense, whose main role was to legitimize the abomination of draft dodging. Even in that role, he failed. He was not elected; he was afraid, and he had a reason—so he received a reserved spot. The one after him, Amir Ohana, with all due respect, is not running to replace Netanyahu. And behind him walk Yariv Levin and Miri Regev. In other words, there is no one in the old top ten who will one day compete to replace Netanyahu.

Israel needs a serious right-wing party that can present a new strategy to replace the one that failed. This is a national need, because with a limp Likud, the main beneficiary is Itamar Ben Gvir, whose strengthening is an existential threat. According to polls, the October 7 government is about to end its days. That is excellent. But in the longer term, with a right wing whose most prominent leader is Ben Gvir, Israel will march from disaster to collapse. Ben Gvir is the symbol of everything that even Israel's friends fear. A country where Ben Gvir is the leader of the right is a pariah state suffering from an ever-expanding international boycott. We need a right wing with Zionist and fresh leadership that does not grovel to the Haredim and the anti-Zionist right. Therefore, a list with no innovation is excellent news for Ben Gvir and sad news for the national interest.