Regarding Netanyahu: when you lie, you will get caught

In the almost-six months since Israel's last national election, the political enemies of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been working overtime to sell to Israeli voters the idea that Netanyahu wants yet another election soon, something most Israel hate to think about. These anti-Netanyahu enemies have repeatedly labelled Netanyahu as a corrupt, selfish and  self-centered leader who is more interested in  himself than in Israel.

The argument against Netanyahu is that he doesn't like the current unity government. He hates it. He's so self-centered, he wants to rule alone--at the top, all by himself, without having to share anything with anyone, least of all Benny Gantz. 

Therefore. these enemies claim, Netanyahu wants to put Israel through a fourth, expensive election in less than two years. They said he wants to end having to serve together with Gantz, and (irrationally) believes another election will help him win enough votes to rule without Gantz. Moreover, these people say, Netanyahu will stop at nothing until he gets that fourth election.

This has been an enduring story. It's got "legs". It always seems to attract clicks on online news outlets. But it is a lie. 

We know this "ongoing Netanyahu saga" is a lie because of what happened over a single 24-hour news cycle between Sunday night, August 23, 2020, and Monday night, August 24th.

Monday, August 24th was to be a momentous day. This day was the deadline for the two "unity" leaders (Gantz and Netanyahu) to agree to complete a new fiscal budget--or, alternatively, to agree to a 100-day extension for budget talks. But if there was no budget passed by 11:59 pm on the 24th, and there was also no agreement reached to extend the budget deadline, then, according to a March/April 2020 mutual pact between Gantz and Netanyahu, a new, fourth-election-within-two-years would be automatically triggered. It was this triggering mechanism that Netanyahu was accused of trying to, well, trigger.  

By late afternoon of the 24th, there was no agreement on anything: just hours before a fourth election would be triggered, there was no budget--and no agreement to extend budget talks. Each man accused the other for the impasse. 

Israel's elite media has repeatedly accused Netanyahu of being the one man responsible for this impasse. This media has insisted that Netanyahu was the one man in Israel who really, really wanted a fourth election. Why? For just one reason: to win more time as Prime Minister, so as to keep pushing off the day he'd go to jail (he's scheduled to go on trial for corruption in January, 2021). Their assumption about Netanyahu has always been he is guilty until proved innocent.

How, exactly, Netanyahu would push off his legal 'destiny' by forcing another election? That wasn't clear. Indeed, the explanations offered for this scenario were often complex--and not always particularly straight-forward. 

But few readers care about clarity. These days, only headlines counted. Therefore, the accusation that Netanyahu wanted another election was sufficient to anger voters against Netanyahu. 

Besides, what did Israelis need to know? Netanyahu was a devious crook, wasn't he? That's why he was going to trial, wasn't it? How much more information did voters need in order to realize that the underhanded Netanyahu plotted to provoke another election? 

This was such a good story, it convinced an increasing number of voters to turn against Netanyahu. But then, this election-lie unraveled. It took less than 24 hours to fall apart.

Lies are like that. Once cast into the sunlight, they melt. 

The unraveling of this lie began Sunday night, August 23rd. At 10:37 pm that night, it was reported that Netanyahu announced he had accepted the compromise solution proposed by MK Zvi Hauser, of the Derech Eretz Party (here). That compromise was designed so that both Gantz and Netanyau could feel comfortable extending budget talks. Since Netyanyahu was the recognized villain in this fourth-election story, his acceptance should have been the end of the story, right? 

Netanyahu, the villain, had accepted the terms of a compromise agreement. A fourth election had been--at least temporarily--avoided. Surely, that was good news, right? 

Wrong. Once Netanyahu said he accepted the compromise agreement, his unity partner, Benny Gantz, did not respond. He remained silent. If Gantz remained silent, a fourth election was still possible.

How did the press handle Gantz's silence on the compromise? The press gave Gantz a pass. The press continued to blame Netanyahu for the still-looming fourth election. 

Keeping Netanyahu on page one as the villain of this story at this moment should have been a clue that, perhaps, the villain here wasn't Netanyahu. After all, after 10:37 pm Sunday night, the ball was, as it were, in Gantz's court. If he didn't accept the compromise agreement, the new election would be his fault, right? 

No. Netanyahu was still the villain. A fourth election would still be his fault. 

You see, Netanyahu's enemies in the media didn't drop their animus towards Netanyahu. Instead, they pushed the idea that, even though Netanyahu had indeed accepted the compromise, he did so only because he was selfish (here)!

The accusation now was, sure, Netanyahu had accepted the compromise. But he'd done so only because this particular moment didn't appear to him to be perfectly right for tearing apart the unity government (here) for his own, personal (and selfish) reasons (ibid). 

Some two hours after this last attack, Gantz's Blue-White Party piled on--and lashed out at Netanyahu with its own anti-Netanyahu lie: a Blue-White declaration went out "challenging" Netanyahu to fulfill his previous promise (to keep from provoking a fourth election) by accepting the compromise plan to delay (extend) the budget talks (here). The headline for this challenge seemed malevolent: it said, in essence, "Make good on your vow".

The inference of this headline was simple: Netyanyahu was once again lying. He had vowed not to let the government fall (by allowing new elections). But he was now about to renege on that vow!

Do you see the problem here? Netanyahu was no longer threatening to 'break his vow'. He had already--some 15-17 hours earlier--kept that vow by accepting the compromise offered by MK Hauser (here). 

The optics of this Blue-White "challenge" was to beat on Netanyahu. It shouted that "Netanyahu-was-the-liar-who can't-be -trusted". Given the fact that Netanyahu had undercut this headline by more than 15 hours (above), the headline was clearly fake news at its most vulgar. 

It was also disgraceful because when this fake "challenge" was issued, Gantz still had not accepted the compromise. This meant that, at the moment his Party was, essentially, smearing Netanyahu's reputation, it was Gantz's continued silence about the compromise which threatened to provoke the dreaded fourth election.

Israel's media was completely silent about this. The media still bashed Netanyahu for 'threatening' to push Israel to another election. 

In the end, Gantz caved. He announced he'd tell his Party Members to support the compromise. He did that about 22 hours after Netanyahu had accepted, just 3 1/2 hours before the deadline.

Gantz behaved exactly the way he and the media were accusing Netanyahu of behaving. It had been Gantz---not Netanyahu--who had dragged Israel to a point beyond the proverbial eleventh hour before acting to forestall a fourth election. 

The lesson here is simple. When you lie about someone and refuse to stop lying, you will get caught. In this instance, Gantz--and the media--got caught. 

There's a second lesson here: Gantz is a problem in this 'unity' government. Gantz is no innocent here.  He lies. Worse, he lies about his unity partner. 

Indeed, it is possible, because of how Gantz lies about Netanyahu, that Gantz may be the bigger problem. He lies even after the fact, shamelessly denying that the truth is already known. In fact, it now appears that if Gantz doesn't get his way, he is capable of suggesting there could be blood spilling "in the streets" (here).

Really? This man wants to be Prime Minister?

Stay tuned. This horror show isn't over.