Herzog, leave or call elections

In a normal country, Labor leader Isaac Herzog would have looked at the ruins of his failed effort to enter the coalition and packed his bags. At the very least he would move up the primary election in his party to the earliest possible date.

He had two options: to keep the negotiations strictly covert until the very end and then declare either victory or success; or hold talks out in the open with all the party's bigwigs kept in the loop. But to operate under the cover of darkness, the way he did, and then refuse to put his leadership to the test once he failed? Having been raised in an English-speaking home, he must be familiar with the expression: It's just not done.

Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who resigned on Friday but vowed to return to public service, did the right thing. Herzog did not, although he is not the only one who acted out of line. In any normal country, Labor MK Amir Peretz, who left the party in 2012 only to return recently, would have been barred from the Zionist Union caucus meeting on Sunday and prohibited from competing for the party's leadership. In 2012, Peretz cited then-Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich's apparent willingness to enter a Netanyahu-led government as the reason for his resignation. But not only did Yachimovich stay in the opposition, he himself later became a minister in Netanyahu's government.

In a normal country, some of the MKs at Sunday's caucus meeting would have kept their mouths shut. They know full well that had the Herzog-Netanyahu talks succeeded, they would have been clamoring to become ministers. Even those who boycotted the meeting would have sought a ministerial portfolio. Even Yachimovich would have said yes, had she been offered the justice portfolio (and it would have been great news for the rule of law), so she has no right to criticize Herzog for seeking to be part of the coalition. Thus, Herzog's exploratory talks were a legitimate move.

But in a normal country, the political reality would be different. In a normal country, MK Avigdor Lieberman would not have been permitted to serve as defense minister after what was written about him in former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein's corruption report, as sparse as it may have been. In a normal country, a party worthy of the name Yisrael Beytenu ("Israel is our home") would not have allowed Lieberman to hand-pick the party list after consulting absolutely no one but himself. (MK Yair Lapid did this, too, in his Yesh Atid party.)

What is particularly troubling is that no one in Likud, with the exception of MK Benny Begin, has challenged Netanyahu's decision to tap Lieberman as his defense minister; it is also troubling that the backbenchers in Likud, or just ordinary Likud voters, are not storming the barricades because of this appointment.

It is as if Lieberman's appointment was made in a Byzantine Court, and now this conduct has infected Labor. If Herzog is convinced he deserves another chance at entering the coalition, he must strike a deal with his challengers and set a date for a leadership contest. This is the least he can do if he wants to rehabilitate his political career.