The recent Israeli elections were more emotional than most Israeli elections – especially the past four in the last few years. It seemed that people were more invested than they had been in years.
Although early indications were that Israelis were exhausted from the constant campaigning and apathetic to the results, the final voter turnout was the most robust in over 20 years. The rhetoric was ferocious, with people demonizing parties, candidates, and possible coalitions sometimes justifiable but mostly not.
Voting in an Israeli election wasn’t always as contentious as this past election. Jews voting for their Knesset was seen as a privilege, a blessing and an opportunity.
For the first time in 2,000 years, Jews could exercise the right to determine their own future in their own land. This year it seemed voting was a burden and the constant elections were more a sign of dysfunctional governing than freedom.
There was more negativity than positivity, more pessimism than optimism and more cynicism in these campaigns. There were mixed feelings but it seemed people were voting against another party more than voting for a party they favored.
No matter what coalition is formed and what policies the government enacts, it is assumed that almost half the nation won’t be counted as supporters. Half the nation will sit in shock, disappointment and even anger as the results are finalized and the coalitions are formed.
Addressing America’s Jewish Federations’ General Assembly, President Herzog said, “I am aware of the questions posed in many Jewish communities around the world about the outcome of the elections. The results may or may not be to your liking but the vote of the Israeli people should be respected.”
“I am aware of the questions posed in many Jewish communities around the world about the outcome of the elections. The results may or may not be to your liking but the vote of the Israeli people should be respected.”
President Isaac Herzog
While many were able to accept President Herzog’s message, others adamantly refused, with one Jewish leader saying they can’t respect the outcome of an election not to their liking.
Predicting that the coalition to be formed will have different views than the liberal views of most American Jews, many thought leaders are concerned that American liberal Zionists will abandon the Zionist ship.
Division between the Jewish people
This foreshadows an American Jewry that won’t recognize the Israel they’re about to see their political opponents put into fruition. They worry that an entire generation with a superficial understanding of Israeli life and issues, already feeling distant from Israel, will ditch Zionism and Israel altogether.
While the division between the Jewish people is concerning, alienation is even more worrying. Israel cannot become a nation where its citizens and advocates feel alienated because their political opponents win an election. Israel must also be concerned with the inclusion of Diaspora Jewry. It cannot allow Jewish communities around the world to feel disenfranchised from the Jewish.
As more and more Jews move to Israel and more Jews are born in Israel, the center of global Jewry will quickly become Israel. This will change Israel’s role and its relationship with the Diaspora. Israel will soon become the leading force and it must maintain strong relationships with those it hopes to lead.
In the aftermath of the election, there are Zionists who have begun becoming Israel’s apologists. They recognize how many friends of Israel don’t support candidates and parties who did well in this past election and try to explain it away. This isn’t an approach that best demonstrates Israeli sovereignty. Every democracy experiences a wide variety of elected leaders and some will always be objectionable.
Supporting Israel doesn’t mean making excuses for it
ISRAEL IS no different and it doesn’t need to make excuses for a normative democratic practice. Supporting Israel doesn’t mean making excuses for it. Supporting Israel means being proud of its successes and acknowledging its mistakes.
Israelis, Zionists and friends of Israel need to move forward in a healthy way. The Israeli people have voted and expressed their preferences. At this point, Zionists need to stop the campaign-style hyperbole and end-of-the-world forebodings. Worrying about Israel’s future and protesting objectionable policies and practices is healthy, but exaggerating dangers is not okay.
When everything is an emergency and made to be an existential threat, true threats become indistinguishable from false overstatements and aren’t sufficiently addressed.
Over the past 75 years, Israel has faced many threats, including internal dangers. While many of these threats came to fruition and caused harm, Israel has survived them all and its people came out stronger from them. Israelis have learned many lessons the hard way and are well-tested to face foreign and domestic challenges.
It is time for Israelis to wait to see if a coalition is formed, the makeup of the coalition and the policies it will pursue. Those that support the policies can advocate for them and those that oppose them can work hard to make sure they’re never enacted into law.
Over the past marathon of elections, Israelis have questioned the wisdom of maintaining the British system of parliamentary democracy. With each election resulting in an almost even split of sides and an increasingly challenging time of forming coalitions, the solution many found was reformatting Israel’s electoral system.
There is one great benefit of the British parliamentary system: the official role of the opposition. In systems without a role for the opposition, politics becomes increasingly partisan. In Israel’s system, the opposition has a meaningful role to play: they show the other side of each issue in a constructive manner.
Instead of becoming a community of partisan opposition where hyperbole and point scoring becomes the normative discourse, Israel must aim higher. We must become a nation of civil political discussions whose citizens talk to each other with respect.
Those who support the government must value the opposition’s role and see them as an opposition, not as an enemy. Those who oppose the government must take on the role of opposition and not partisan players trying to score points against the ruling coalition.
Israel is an amazing country and Israelis are amazing people. There is so much that Zionists have to be proud of achieving. Baseless division has never been healthy for the Jewish people and it has led to our greatest tragedies like the destruction of the Temples, the assassination of our leaders like the prophet Gedaliah and prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the splitting of the Jewish people.
To ensure its success, Israelis don’t have to agree but they must adjust to disagreeing civilly with respect. More than any other domestic issue, becoming a civil society will be Israel’s greatest challenge moving forward. Zionism was always meant to be a revolutionary uniting force for the Jewish people and its adherents must make sure it stays true to its mission.
The writer is a senior educator at numerous educational institutions. He is the author of three books and teaches Torah, Zionism and Israeli studies around the world.