The Other Natural History Drama

Today I watched some wild animals tearing into their desired prey, and I also watched some lions tearing into a herd of buffalo. The former was much more distressing, even by Knesset standards. The incoming prime minister, Naftali Bennett, could barely get a sentence out. There's a lot that can be said about the behavior and speeches at the Knesset today, but what stood out for me most were several instances of the most rank hypocrisy.

First was Bibi declaring that Bennett and Lapid are "like Iran" (!!!) for wanting to create the "anti-democratic" concept of term limits for a prime minister - which is exactly what Bibi himself proposed many years ago. Aside from the hypocrisy, the fact that he compared Bennett/Lapid to Iran is an utter disgrace. And this is especially appalling at a time when there are efforts to condemn Ilhan Omar for comparing the US and Israel to the Taliban and Hamas.

Second was Bibi slamming Bennett as being treacherous to right-wing values for relying on political support from Israeli Arabs. This is just absurd; Bibi himself has spent weeks (including this past week) making offers to the Arabs in exchange for their not supporting Lapid/Bennett.

Third was Bibi condemning Bennett for betraying his (secondary) campaign promises - when Bibi was extremely happy last year for Ganz to betray his central campaign promise and prop up his coalition. Apparently, when Bennett seems to break his promises, it's unacceptable, but when Ganz breaks his main promise, it's "what a great guy, he changed his mind based on seeing the light!"

Fourth was Deri shouting about the loss of Kavod HaTorah. Are you kidding me?! This from a religious man who spent three years in prison for bribery? Besides, the charedi parties have caused the greatest disgraces to Torah. Under the leadership of Rav Elyashiv, they ensured that the post of Chief Rabbi would go to a man who was known to be under a cloud of allegations for fraud and sexual improprieties, and to who nobody's surprise ended up in prison. And it's only a few weeks ago that 45 people died in Meron as a result of charedi separatism, with Deri himself proudly declaring that he was able to prevent limits on the number of people going to Meron that were going to be imposed by people who "do not understand the protective merits of Rabbi Shimon."

Fifth was Litzman, in a post-Knesset interview, slamming Bennett as going against the notion of democracy, and in virtually the same breath, proudly justifying his heckling and declaring that if he would have had his way, Bennett would not have been allowed to speak at all. Because it's really democratic to want to stop your political opponents from being able to speak.

Finally, it's just astonishing to see so many people blaming Bennett for there not being a right-wing government, when the fact is that there simply weren't enough numbers for a right-wing coalition, and the single reason for that is Bibi himself. Everyone knows that if Bibi, having seen that he was incapable of forming a coalition, would have stepped down in favor of someone like Nir Barkat or Yuli Edelstein, Likud would be leading a coalition. I can understand that some people are very upset about the current coalition - but the person to blame is the person who spent years trying to destroy anyone who presented a challenge to his power.