Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon have been bickering for several days now over the scheduled launch of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (destined to replace the Israeli Broadcasting Authority). Netanyahu has announced that he wants to cancel the launch of the corporation.

This serious coalition crisis is sending shockwaves across the Israeli political system. It could have been the center-left's greatest hour, but the leaders of that bloc — Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Camp and Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid — failed yet again in presenting a clear and sensible alternative to Netanyahu's current government and the ideology of the right. When faced with the heated clash between the prime minister and the finance minister, Herzog and Lapid decided to act separately, instead of consolidating forces.

As soon as Netanyahu dropped his political bombshell and announced on the evening of March 18 that if his coalition partners do not meet his demand to shut down the corporation, he would call an early election, Lapid and Herzog should have held an urgent meeting and found a way to work together to oppose Netanyahu. Doing so, if only temporarily, would have granted momentum to their political offensive and resounded with political power.

But Herzog decided to call Kahlon instead. It was leaked to the media that the two men discussed the possibility of putting together an alternative government without heading to elections, using an obscure parliamentary procedure known as "constructive no confidence" (a variation on a motion of no confidence). Shortly afterward, Lapid made it clear that he would not participate in the move. He made a point of distancing himself from Herzog and thereby being branded as a collaborator with the left. Nevertheless, Herzog continued to peddle his phony idea of an alternative government to the media, even though Kahlon would not give him a green light.