Does Israel’s interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believe that dialogue between the state’s Jewish majority and Muslim minority contribute to the interests of Israeli society, or does he believe that incitement and delegitimization of 20% of the public are preferable? The answer depends on when the question is asked.

Shortly after exit polls were aired on March 2 indicating victory for the right-wing ultra-Orthodox parties, Netanyahu called for “healing the rift” and declared, “It’s time for reconciliation.” Two days later, with publication of the official tally, the “healing” made way for inciting and delegitimizing replaced reconciliation. The right-wing ultra-Orthodox bloc got less seats than the center-left, but the prime minister decided to "calculate" the votes differently. According to the racist March 4 accounting Netanyahu presented publicly on a flip chart, the center-left political bloc accounts for no more than 47 Knesset seats. The Arab Joint List — the third-largest Knesset faction with a record 15 seats in the 120-seat legislature — did not figure in his arithmetic. For him, it is an abomination sullying Israeli democracy. “Such was the will of the people,” Netanyahu explained in analyzing the election results, minus their Arab component.

Which people? The Jewish people, of course. The “people” include voters of the right-wing Yamina alliance, among them Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz who supports annexing occupied territories and disenfranchising millions of their Palestinian residents, and advocates conversion therapy for gay people.

Then there is the leader of the “people” (Netanyahu himself), facing a March 17 trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu conducted extensive dealings over the past year with Itamar Ben-Gvir, the disciple of arch-racist Meir Kahane and admirer of Baruch Goldstein, the Jewish settler who massacred 29 Muslim worshippers in 1994 and whose photo graced Ben-Gvir’s living room until recently. The same Netanyahu just accused his opponent Gantz, the general who led the Israel Defense Forces, of colluding with “terror supporters of the Joint List in a bid to cancel the people’s decision.”  In other words, 581,507 Israeli citizens who voted on March 2 for the Arab Joint List — among them thousands of Jews — support terrorism, including Knesset member Ofer Cassif of the Arab-Jewish Hadash party who is considered a totally kosher Jew. The democrat from Jerusalem’s Balfour Street went as far as to threaten, “My friends and I and millions of Israelis who voted for us will not let this happen.” How exactly does he intend to do so? A quarter century ago, a Jewish terrorist who assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin paved Netanyahu’s way to power. These days the Shin Bet has done well in beefing up security around Gantz.