Bezalel Smotrich is a real Gentleman

OK, so the headline caught your attention.

Truth be told, I don’t believe for one microsecond that this ultra-nationist, neo-fascist is a gentleman in any way or form. Further, let me be crystal clear, I do not like the man. He reminds me of a weasel and that may be unfair to weasels.

Smotrich no doubt does not like me. I am the kind of secular Israeli that he would like to kick out of Israel along with Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.

So why the headline?

Smotrich is, like so many others of his ilk, a Bibi poodle. Netanyahu says jump, and the collective answer is “how high”?

By aligning himself with the even more extreme Itamar Ben Gvir and his band of hooligans: Michael Ben-Ari, Bentzi Gopstein, and Avi Moaz of Noam, no doubt at Bibi’s command, Smotrich has, whether he knows it or not, handed a lifeline to Ayelet Shaked and her Zionist Spirit party.

While I would not vote for Shaked, I appreciate that many consecutive religious Israelis are drawn to her rather than Smotrich’s Religious Zionism because of the inclusion of Ben Gvir and his cohorts.

Of course, anything can and probably will happen between now and November 1. Former UK prime minister Harold Wilson was fond of saying that “a week is a long time in politics”. Ninety days is an eternity.

The question is, how will Shaked and her band of merry men grab the lifeline thrown inadvertently by Smotrich and how will she use it to her benefit?