All the hours that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent with newspaper editorial boards over the past two weeks add up to a far greater number than the number of hours that Foreign Minister Netanyahu has dedicated to the State of Israel’s foreign affairs. In meetings with journalists, Netanyahu explained the prolonged lack of a full-time foreign minister as a result of his desire to save the vacancy for Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog. Although both denied an Aug. 19 Channel 2 television report about a secret meeting they held in Caesarea, Herzog still has his eye on the empty foreign minister’s office in Jerusalem’s Givat Ram neighborhood.

Netanyahu finds it convenient to keep the head of the opposition in the wings as a potential foreign minister. How can Herzog attack the government’s settlement policy, for example, if tomorrow he may be tasked with explaining to the world that Israel is entitled to build on Palestinian land? How can he join critics of Israel’s West Bank occupation when his main rival in the opposition, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, is constantly breathing down his neck and running around the world to face off against anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions activists? This is why the crumbling Palestinian leadership is left with no Israeli partner except for the small Meretz party and the sidelined Joint List.

With the main opposition mum, it's a small wonder that even cries of despair by the world’s largest power fall on deaf ears. In a little over one month, the US State Department has issued no fewer than four reactions against the Israeli government, each harsher than the one before. Not a sound was heard from the ranks of the Zionist Camp.

After plans for construction of hundreds of housing units in the settlement of Maale Adumim and across the Green line in Jerusalem were advanced, State Department spokesman John Kirby expressed concern July 5 over what seems to be a systematic takeover of Palestinian land, expansion of Jewish settlements and legalization of illegal settlement outposts. According to Kirby, President Barack Obama’s administration has been holding “tough discussions” with the Israeli leadership on this issue and discussing with international allies ways to confront these moves, which “raise serious questions about Israel’s long-term intentions.” This, too, was met with total silence from the opposition, except for Meretz and the Joint List.