I was wrong. At least for now.
During the election I thought it would be funny to see how Netanyahu was busy propping up Smotritch and Ben Gvir and then would later leave them out of the government. He really only needed them to get the nod from the President to form a government. After that he could go ahead and form a government without them. Especially Ben Gvir more than Smotritch.
As of now, with Netanyahu having burned all his bridges and, seemingly, unable to form another government, it turns out the tables have turned. Instead of Netanyahu using and disposing of Smotritch and/or Ben Gvir, it is happening the other way.
Netanyahu propped them up and got them in to the Knesset in order to help his chances in forming a government, and he got the nomination because of it. but he is also having trouble forming the government because of it. With Saar still refusing to join a Netanyahu government, Bibi's options are limited to Smotritch with Ben Gvir and also bringing in one of the Arab parties, but Smotritch is refusing to play along and is burning Netanyahu over it. So Netanyahu got them in but they are making life difficult for him.
The tables have turned. We wait to see how it plays out, but for now it looks like the opposite of what I expected.
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