The country is in turmoil. Conditions are finally right for a change of leadership. Can Yamina leader Naftali Bennett withstand temptation and beat Netanyahu in an election?
By Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM
In August 1970, then-Opposition leader Menachem Begin walked up to the Knesset podium and issued a harshly-worded warning to the government about Israel being unprepared for an attack by Egypt.
Three years passed before Begin’s warning came true. The 1973 Yom Kippur War, which came as a surprise, resulted in heavy casualties to Israel’s air force, which hampered its ability to provide cover for the ground forces. It was then-Prime Minister Golda Meir who had shut her eyes to Egypt’s progress on its anti-aircraft batteries, about which Begin had warned the Knesset. The price was unbearably heavy.
Four years after the Yom Kippur War came the first political change of leadership in Israel. The thousands of casualties, the military failure, the economic crisis, the mass protests, and the public’s dissatisfaction with the socialists, did their work. Menachem Begin, who had been a junior and right-wing partner in Golda’s government, was elected prime minister. His prophetic speech from 1970 contributed to his victory. He was seen as someone who had warned about an impending disaster while the leaders preferred to ignore it.
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