In a back-page op-ed in Haaretz on Dec. 18, Knesset member Ilan Gilon of left-wing Meretz presented his party’s three goals: an equitable distribution of wealth, the division of land between Israelis and Palestinians, and the separation of religion and state. Former Knesset member Mossi Raz, the Meretz leadership’s far-left standard-bearer, had the day before listed the party’s central goals on Facebook, in this order: ending the occupation, avoiding an escalation with Gaza, revoking the Nationality Law (which discriminates against Arab citizens), creating a social-democratic society, and halting the expulsion of asylum seekers’ children. The latest opinion polls indicate that at best, Gilon and his colleagues will cross the electoral threshold, obtaining the requisite 3.25% of votes, to send four representatives to the 23rd Knesset in March.

In the September 2019 elections, running under the banner of the new Democratic Camp with Ehud Barak's latest party, Meretz’s key agenda items — peace, equal rights and social justice — barely got them 4.3% of the eligible votes cast. At that time, Israeli voters went to the polls with one goal in mind — to determine the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and that will be the case even more so on March 2, 2020. In other words, voters have been and remain less concerned about ideologies than voting to keep Netanyahu in power or to get rid of him.

Pro-Netanyahu voters have declared all-out war on anyone who dares challenge their leader. That includes national institutions, such as the police and state prosecutor's office, and of course the media. Even Knesset member Gideon Saar and the Likud members backing him ahead of the Dec. 26 party leadership primaries against Netanyahu have been hanging on by the skin of their teeth from their challenge of the leader. Meanwhile, the opposing camp led by the centrist Blue and White draws most of its support from the revulsion engendered by Netanyahu and the need to defend state institutions and the rule of law against the attacks of Netanyahu and his friends on them.

Ahead of the March elections, the question is not which party but which bloc will pick up enough votes for a 61-seat Knesset majority. One small party on the margins of either the left or right that fails to cross the electoral threshold could determine the outcome of the elections. To prevent such an event on the right, Netanyahu is willing once again to play matchmaker for a marriage between the messianic right and the racist Kahanist right. On the other hand, the leadership of the centrist Blue and White is looking for an elixir to soothe the stomach pains that strike Labor leader Amir Peretz every time someone mentions a possible union of his party with the Meretz-dominated Democratic Camp.