Yaakov Katz

Peace has all but disappeared from Israeli political discourse since October 7. Israel must look beyond military victories toward a political future.

Hopefully, October 27 will produce a clear winner. If it does not, Israel’s political leaders will have to decide whether their refusal to sit together matters more than the country.

Three years after October 7, Israel must confront its failures, establish a state commission of inquiry, and develop a political strategy beyond military force.

We have now heard some testimony from passengers aboard the flight. It is frightening and disturbing, particularly as investigators are still trying to understand what exactly happened.

Settler violence has been treated as a nuisance rather than as a strategic threat that hands Israel’s adversaries ammunition on a silver platter.

The wound of October 7 therefore remains open, and when your own wound is still open, it is difficult to look at somebody else’s.

Israel cannot learn from October 7 if its leaders continue to deflect responsibility and rewrite the failures that made the massacre possible.

The leaders of the opposition remain divided over the most basic questions they will face the day after the election. Most importantly of these is: Who actually leads their camp?

But there is another simpler word for what is happening in parts of the West Bank, and we should not be afraid to use it. On the contrary, we have an obligation to use it. It is “terrorism.”

Regardless of who is competing in Israel’s upcoming elections, what must remain a top priority is to keep an eye on which politician intends to do what with the power bestowed upon them.