The Israeli election campaign continues to astonish and generate strategic developments, each of which can become a watershed around which all players can create a totally new order. The “Anyone but Bibi” coalition took several hard hits at the end of December, blows that undermined the equilibrium, stability and chances for success of said coalition in the elections to be held March 17. All is not yet lost, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position today, 77 days before Election Day, looks a lot better than it did a week ago. The list of politicians who joined together to replace him (Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog, former Minister Tzipi Livni, former Minister Yair Lapid, former Minister Moshe Kahlon, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri) is on the defensive.

Several of its members (Liberman and Deri) are taking hard electoral and public hits.

Two secret programs were planned in recent months by key protagonists of the Israeli political telenovela. The first is the plan of Liberman and Kahlon to unite the day after the elections and to appear together before President Reuven Rivlin (who mandates a candidate to form the government). According to this plan, the two of them hoped to realize at least 25 mandates between them, thus constituting a new bloc that, the day after elections, could emerge as the Knesset’s largest party.

These two politicians originate from the right-wing bloc, but they are also capable of forming a government which would be (willingly) joined by Herzog, Livni and Lapid. Such a setup, according to this plan, would have turned them into the surprising “black horse” of the campaign.