The Likud deserves better
Op-ed: Anyone who read the state comptroller's appalling reports recently could clearly see that the country's problem is not one of left or right, but lies in one particular man.
A few have left the party, like Moshe Kahlon and Gideon Sa'ar, who have joined a growing Hagira (wave of emigration) in the Likud, while others, like Benny Begin, returned to the fold at an awkward timing.
The suffering in the Likud's leadership is apparent to anyone who hears what they have to say, and they hardly attempt to conceal their contempt towards Benjamin Netanyahu in off-the-record interviews.
And yet in public, in the media, they stand with Bibi even when the wacky stories from the Prime Minister's Residence become the grist for the state comptroller's mill.
I truly feel for them. Netanyahu is the bane of their existence – without him, they will lose the reins come March 17. With him, they are doomed to squirm and wallow in his muck and mire.
Netanyahu sent his pathetic and ineloquent mercenaries to the media in order to justify that which even the brightest PR brains would fail to sugarcoat. The Likud leadership which is protectively locking its arms around Netanyahu is turning, either by action or by tacit consent, into accomplices for a rotten leader who has spoiled the prestige and credibility of the office of the prime minister in Israel. The day will come when they will seek the public's vote of confidence and will have to atone for their political sins committed in these dark times
The Likud has always been – and will always be – a grand and important party and a natural component of every general election in Israel. Anyone who has recently read the State Comptrollers appalling reports can see that the country's problem is not one of left or right but lies in one particular man. After six long years of poor government, the State Comptroller's report reduces Netanyahu from an asset to a liability for the governing party.
The Likud deserves better. It deserves more honesty, more sanity. It deserves a little more Jabotinsky and Begin.
Yoel Esteron is the publisher of the Calcalist business daily.
