Wisdom or wussdom?

Still reeling from the Labor-Hatnua merger, the Hebrew papers on Friday continue to spotlight the partnership of Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, alongside accusations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an orchestrated media campaign against him.

Despite Netanyahu’s fears that the media is on his case, pundits in the left-wing Haaretz daily are fairly critical of the union between Livni and Herzog.

Meanwhile, various political parties attempt to frame the upcoming elections differently — for Livni and Herzog it’s the “Zionist camp” vs. the “radical right”; Netanyahu posits it’s the “left” vs. Likud; and Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party maintains it’s the center (which he says is comprised solely of his party) against the “radical right.”

Israel Hayom, the daily known for its unwavering support of the premier, leads with Netanyahu’s allegations, and its pundits faithfully echo his remarks.

The paper’s Haim Shain terms the alleged media campaign in favor of Herzog and Livni left-wing “hypocrisy and manipulation” and “brainwashing” comparable to the USSR and Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu. The news of the merger received the most coverage since the Six Day War, Shain writes. “A party with no seats paired up with a party which has had no direction for years, and the media celebrates the union as much as that of Prince William and Kate Middleton,” he writes.

Yedioth Ahronoth also leads with the prime minister’s remarks — spotlighting his statement about the “left unites us” in its headline. The paper also references the prime ministerial rotation arrangement between Herzog and Livni, quoting senior sources in the Labor and Hatnua parties who maintain that in the event that another party joins the center-left bloc and demands to be on the prime minister rotation, one of the two candidates — namely Livni — would give up the position.

“Livni wouldn’t prevent the replacement of Netanyahu because of the rotation agreement,” the sources said.

Ex-finance minister Yair Lapid, who had also unsuccessfully tried to get Livni to join his party, responded to the merger for the first time on Thursday. With the new bloc, Labor, Hatnua and Meretz were squarely on the left, Lapid said. Likud and Jewish Home were on the right, and “we are the center,” he said, referring to Yesh Atid.

“The next elections will not be between right and left, it will be between center and right,” he said. “Most of Israel’s citizens are in the center,” he added.

Beyond the new Labor-Hatnua list, Yedioth also reported on another threat to the right-wing bloc — an internal spat in Jewish Home between Housing Minister Uri Ariel and party leader Naftali Bennett over the party’s roster, which could split the party in two.

Over in Haaretz, the paper’s editorial hails the Livni-Herzog merger, but some of its columnists are less than thrilled by the rotation decision.

The union is “an important and commendable step on the way to replacing Netanyahu’s government and the radical right’s rule,” the editorial said.

“The rotation the two announced for role of prime minister, if their merged slate is elected to form the next government, evoked disappointment among some Labor activists and venomous attacks from the right. However, this must not stop the move or cloud its essence — uniting forces in a bid to block Netanyahu and the extreme right.”

The paper’s Israel Harel and Yossi Verter fiercely criticize the rotation, directing most of their discontent at Livni.

Harel, a former head of the settlers’ umbrella council, lashes out at Livni in a column entitled: “She will destroy Boujie (Herzog), too.”

The columnist pans the “irrational conduct of Isaac Herzog, who until Wednesday — before he was caught in Livni’s web — was considered a sober, deliberate and honest politician. In this fateful concession, it was not ego that Herzog set aside but rather wisdom. He, the Labor Party that he leads and the entire left-wing bloc will pay the political price for the service fee he gave to this aggressive, fickle, quarrelsome and politically unrestrained character.”

“Her zigzagging and haughtiness have brought down more than one party. Livni, who swore loyalty to anyone who did well by her, (later) abandoned her benefactors. She left behind scorched earth in every party. Just ask Ehud Olmert, Shaul Mofaz or any of the many others who were captivated by her charms until she grew tired of them and left them exploited, disappointed and betrayed. Now — after all, it’s a matter of character — she will muddy the waters in her new political home as well,” he writes.

The paper’s political analyst Verter also has a few choice words for the former justice minister.

“For Livni, being prime minister isn’t just an option, it’s a deep obsession — acute and almost terminal. She’s convinced that if she occupied that chair for a year or two, peace would soon follow and all Israel’s woes would be resolved.

“All this is well known, but what made Herzog acquiesce remains a mystery, because the gun that Livni held to his head was empty,” Verter writes.

He continues: “To Herzog’s credit, he isn’t denying that Livni steamrollered him, though he uses a more polite phrase: ‘This was the only way for her.’ He’s proud that he got her to back down from her demand to save five spots on the joint ticket for her people. She’ll suffice with three out of the first 20. What a concession. What a sacrifice. She dumped Meir Sheetrit, Elazar Stern and David Tzur, whom she’ll quickly forget.”