Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the Knesset with a team of bodyguards as prime minister and left with just a couple guards as head of the opposition.
But that was expected. What was less expected was that he didn’t let his guard down.
Netanyahu did not storm the Knesset or order any of his followers to do so. He did not follow in the footsteps of his friend US president Donald Trump’s behavior on January 6.
The worst Netanyahu critics who predicted a bloody change of power were proven wrong.
American reporters who thought they could be covering a riot ended up covering a relatively tame speech by Netanyahu.
The Netanyahu allies who incessantly heckled Prime Minister Naftali Bennett were undoubtedly unpleasant to him. Likud minister Yuli Edelstein was caught on camera telling New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar: “I am still a Knesset speaker in my soul, and what happened in the plenum is unacceptable.”
The emotional highlight of the day at the Knesset was when Bennett’s children in the visitor’s gallery made heart signs with their hands in support of their father as he was being heckled.
But at least no MKs had to evacuate the plenum in fear, like their counterparts in Congress.
Netanyahu agreed to shake Bennett’s hand once. But when Bennett came to him a second time, Netanyahu ignored him, while Edelstein, who was sitting next to him, took Bennett’s hand.
Nevertheless, minutes later, Bennett’s office put out a statement saying that Netanyahu invited him to a working meeting on Monday afternoon to formally hand over the reins of power.
Netanyahu was clearly frustrated by the situation, but he did not burn bridges.
Unlike America, there are no nuclear codes to hand over to the new leader. But there is information to which only prime ministers are privy.
Bennett will keep Netanyahu’s military aide and the head of the National Security Council to ease the transition.
Handing over the Prime Minister’s Residence will obviously take longer.
But Israel’s democracy proved on Sunday that it is stronger than any leader when Netanyahu left without a storm.