Party poopers

That candidates kick off their Knesset campaign with mutual mudslinging is hardly surprising. It is both natural and human.

"Liar," "ball-scratcher," "geek." These were nothing but opening shots in the rhetorical tit-for-tat. There is more slime to come.

We can live with that, so long as candidates eventually move beyond these ad hominem attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his government because he could no longer run the country. As a result, several hot-button issues remain unresolved. The public may -- in fact it must -- demand that parties clarify where they stand. Although they may eventually try to walk back their statements once the ballots are cast (they tend to do that), the public will not let them get away such a cynical and brazen U-turn.

Here is my questionnaire for the parties:

- Is the Likud willing to put its money where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mouth is? That is, will Netanyahu's criticism of former Finance Minister Yair Lapid translate into an increase in defense spending, to a level of 60 billion shekels ($15 billion)? Will a Likud-led government finally provide the funding for the relocation of major military bases to the Negev? Will Yesh Atid try to stop the government from increasing defense spending even if does not get the finance portfolio?

- Just how committed is Netanyahu to the two-state solution? What about Labor leader MK Isaac Herzog?

- During the 2012-2013 election campaign, Netanyahu said he would appoint former minister Moshe Kahlon as his housing czar. At the time, this column was very critical of the move because Kahlon had just announced he was leaving politics. But now that Kahlon is on the ballot as the head of the Kulanu list, will Netanyahu promise to give Kahlon the housing portfolio so that he could tackle what has caused so much discontent among young Israelis?

- Will the Zionist parties finally iron out their differences on the Jewish state bill by stating their red lines? Perhaps they should just let this matter fizzle. After all, Israel is already a Jewish state and a democracy, so why tinker with this issue?

- Would any of the parties be willing to breathe new life into the "Sharing of the Burden" law that extends the mandatory military service to some ultra-Orthodox Jews? Which parties are going to make their entry into a coalition contingent on repealing the law or its provisions?

- The Likud, Habayit Hayehudi and Yisrael Beytenu have to tell the public where they stand on the judiciary's independence and the supremacy of the law. Will they subscribe to former Prime Minister Menachem Begin's judicial philosophy or that of former Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, who wants to clip the courts' wings? The views they air must be binding so that no renegade party member tries to chart his or her own course.

There are many questions I can add to this list. The test's results will be made available on March 17.