Lapid, Netanyahu playing 'unifiers' in attempt to win back votes from Gantz - analysis

The speeches of both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition leader Yair Lapid at the opening plenum of the Knesset indicate that both are trying to win back some of the seats that have gone to National Unity leader MK Benny Gantz by echoing Gantz's moderate, conciliatory approach.

As Herb Keinon pointed out earlier this week, an average of seven polls in April showed Yesh Atid declining by 22.6%, compared to a 22.3% drop for the Likud. Gantz, however, gained on average a whopping 128.5%, leaping from 12 to an average of 27.5 seats.

Netanyahu was the first to pivot towards more conciliatory language. This already began at the end of March, when his announcement that he was removing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after Gallant warned about the negative effects of the polarization in Israel on national security, triggered mass protests that led to him announcing a temporary freeze on the reform's legislation.

In numerous speeches since then, and in interviews - nearly all in English to foreign news agencies, the prime minister repeatedly said that he was doing everything he could to create agreements over the reform and that nothing was more important than unifying the people.

His speech to the plenum on Monday was no different. It came after US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was no longer present and there was no need for niceties. Furthermore, the speech came at the end of a discussion known as a "40 signatures discussion," in which 40 Knesset members can force the prime minister to be present in the plenum, while they batter him with criticism. This type of discussion ends with speeches by the prime minister and the opposition leader, and are usually intensely critical.

But the speech on Monday was, once again, conciliatory.

Netanyahu said that if only people who opposed the reform would meet and talk to those who support it, "I am sure that they can reach agreements on the majority. Because in the end, it is not as far as people think. And the reason is that we are all first-class citizens, and even if we do not agree on everything – we are one people."

Weeks of continued behavior from Netanyahu

The prime minister's conciliatory tone has gone on for weeks and is remarkably different than things he said in February and March – calling on his government to "strike" the media's "lies" about the judicial reforms, calling some of the protestors "anarchists," and more.

Lapid seemed to be catching on as well.

The opposition leader's militant approach and sharp rhetoric on the government's performance in general and the judicial reform, in particular, were noticeably absent in his speech, which came immediately after Netanyahu's.

Lapid called his speech "Unity of the People," and praised the Likud's "sudden turn" to talking about unity after telling the opposition at first to "go to hell."

"I'm not cynical about it, I bless this," he said, adding that "this is what the sane majority wants, that the government works to unify, and not to divide."

The opposition leader then argued that what the coalition needed to do in order to achieve said unity was to trash the judicial reform.

"If unity of the people is important to you – stop [the judicial reform] and everything will balance out. You will do your job as a government, and there will be unity amongst the people. We will continue to argue, I will continue to think that you are a terrible and failing government, but this will be an argument over the matters that Israeli citizens really care about – the economy and security. And most important – it will continue to be a fight within the family."

These remarks are a far cry from other speeches Lapid has given in recent weeks, in which he harshly criticized Netanyahu for tearing apart the country, erasing its democratic character and much more.

Keinon suggested earlier this week that the reason for Gantz's rise has been his more inclusive and less divisive rhetoric about the judicial reforms. Netanyahu took note and began to sing to a different tune, and Lapid is beginning to as well. It remains to be seen whether Israeli citizens will buy it.