no really...why are the Prime Minister's minions beating up both President Rivlin and MK Begin?
Is this the a present day political game or is this the Prime Minister getting payback for the way the Likud party treated his father?
If this is about how the Likud party treated his father, how did we get to the place where everything in Israeli politics is so incredibly kleptocratically personal?
and really and truly if these hate campaigns keep gathering speed something really really bad will happen again!

This is the legacy of Binyamin Netanyahu.

He is the first leader of Israel to have initiated a primaries system that involves money exchanging in return for favourable votes.

He is the first leader of Israel to appoint a cabinet with at least three ministers who have had nothing but a yeshiva education - i.e. no basic education.

He is the first leader of Israel to reject the notion that committing a felony should not stand in the way of government service, even though an optician, a Bezek engineer, or an accountant with such a background can expect a job.

He is the first leader of Israel to watch, in total silence (and even to smirk) while his faction supporters in the Knesset hurl abuse at parents of soldiers killed in action, and who mock and insult a handicapped MK.

He is the first leader of Israel to retain his seat on the basis of his oratory skills over his actual record, particularly in the two last military attacks on Israel.

He is most certainly the first leader of Israel to be involved in dozens of investigations into corrupt behaviour, and who does not feel that his appallingly behaved wife is a reflection on his own image.

He is steadily destroying this country's image as a moral "light unto the nations".

Sadly, there is a large population with no background of understanding what democracy is about, who, because of this, vote on nothing but raw instinct and emotion rather than issues. Up until the last 20 years, it was just lucky that there were still some principled representatives in the Knesset. But from Sharon onwards, it's been nothing but self-interest, ego and contempt. And finally, it reaches a point at which the rot is so great that it starts to sink towards dictatorship.

David Bitan and Miri Regev in particular, are out to get whatever they can out all this. Netanyahu knows this, but is cynically using their grotesque sense of power to prop him up. He will discard them as soon as they've served their purpose - and boosted his.

Benny Begin's destruction is of his own making. He has none of the grit, or the ambition,or the ability of his father. The people need a champion, not a wimp.