The resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has destabilized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, and one cannot exclude now the possibility of early elections. But whether Netanyahu calls for snap elections or holds them as scheduled on November 2019, the important fight has already begun: What will these elections really be about, what major debate will become the key issue that brings voters to the polls? Netanyahu will try to get people to forget about all the corruption scandals and go back to focusing on the Iranian threat that is so near and dear to him. The question is whether he will succeed in forcing this convenient agenda item into the political arena, or the opposition parties manage to raise the issues that are really important to them.

One thing is clear. The issue that led to these elections will not end up being the bone of contention between the two blocs. By the time the election is held, people will have a hard time remembering what shocked so much the political system. The Nov. 14 resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman did not cause any major rift in Israeli society. He had enjoyed this honorable title, but didn’t do much with it. Neither he nor his ministry were really in charge of Israel’s defense policy. It is no wonder then that during his time in the most prestigious position in the Israeli government after the prime minister, he not only failed to increase his popularity but even lost some of the limited support he had before he took the post.

I can never forget the discussion I had with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert right after his election victory in 2006. Amir Peretz, who headed the Labor Party, expressed his willingness to join Olmert’s coalition, but demanded in return that he be given the Finance Ministry so that he could influence the distribution of funds in a more equitable manner. As leader of Meretz, I recommended to Olmert that he consider Peretz’ request favorably. Olmert responded with a firm no. He told me that the Finance Ministry was too important to him, and that he wanted to put one of his own people in charge, instead of someone whose economic worldview was so different from his own. Instead, Labor was offered the defense portfolio.

Olmert told me that he would do exactly what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had done before him regarding the Defense Ministry. Although Sharon had appointed Labor member Binyamin Ben Eliezer as his defense minister back in 2001, he paid little attention to anything Ben Eliezer actually said and communicated directly with the heads of the various security departments instead. Netanyahu did the exact same thing when he appointed Liberman as his defense minister after firing Moshe Ya’alon (who, as a former chief of staff, was harder to circumvent).