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March 27, 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem. Netanyahu calls the indictment allegations against him a “witch hunt.” (Gali Tibbon / AFP via Getty Images)

“Getting out of bed will never be easy.”

I saw these words for the first time on a notecard taped to the lampshade on my friend’s bedside table. She told me it was a reminder to herself not to hit the snooze button on her alarm clock. The idea was that while waking up right away might be miserable, it won’t be any easier in five, 10, 15 or 20 minutes.

I found this to be a revolutionary thought, and have since tried to live by my friend’s strict no-snooze policy. It’s best to face facts, get real and put your feet on the floor.

So it is with what we now can call Israel’s “snooze election.” Each do-over election over the past year was another attempt to slam our hands down on the snooze button, delaying the inevitable result: Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister. Again.

There were some surprises and intrigue along the way. New alliances formed and old partnerships were torn asunder. There was the sudden possibility of a center-left coalition with Jewish and Arab parties. There were concerns about immunity laws, and talk of court proceedings.

But all this has been revealed as little more than fragmentary flotsam and jetsam of sweet dreams and flickering nightmares that sometimes occur in the five minutes before the alarm goes off again.

Netanyahu’s chief rival, Benny Gantz, has become his partner in a unity government — one which, despite the addition of Gantz and some of his party colleagues, looks much like the government we had when this process started.

There’s Bibi, divisive and scheming. There’s Naftali Bennett, with his eye on annexing the West Bank. There’s Bezalel Smotrich, who has called for Jewish law to be the law of the land. There’s Rafi Peretz, whose has stated he supports conversion therapy for homosexuals. There’s the ultra-Orthodox parties, which continue to hold Israel’s marriage, divorce and conversion procedures in a tight and restrictive grip.

“It’s best to face facts, get real and put your feet on the floor.”

In exchange for this, Gantz’s retinue have received some important ministries and a vague promise Gantz will get to have his turn as prime minister in a year and a half.

Of course, to pin any hopes on this vague promise or on the person of Gantz himself is another way of hitting snooze.

For those who wish to see Netanyahu replaced, this is no longer an option. The time has come to wake up to a number of facts. The first of these is that this is a loss. There will be no more do-overs for the time being.

The anti-Netanyahu bloc lost because it decided to trust Gantz when he hadn’t earned that trust, and assumed a bland and militaristic frontman devoid of ideology was the best person to beat a charismatic and militaristic frontman brimming with ideology.

The anti-Netanyahu bloc lost because it forgot that those who rise up and claim their sole purpose is to defeat Bibi often are the quickest to jump into bed with him. Gantz’s former partner, Yair Lapid, who won’t be joining the unity government, may act high and mighty now, but he did the same thing in 2013.

The cruel truth about the snooze button is that it’s often harder to get out of bed the second, third, fourth or fifth time. It’s no wonder the last year of elections has put bags under our eyes like a morning after a fitful sleep. Israel’s beleaguered left has some soul searching to do, and for now, there are few reasons to be optimistic. That might sound grim, but it’s important to say it.

Waking up might be daunting, but it will never be easier than it is right now.


Matthew Schultz is a Tel Aviv-based writer.

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