Sadly, those of us living here in Israel are bereft of any option to change the government in power once the coalition is formed and in place. In some ways, that fact effectively means we live in what can only be described as a “limited democracy,” one that gives us electoral power once every four years but no recall capability should our elected officials fail to deliver.
Estimates vary, but local polls show that about 70% of the population currently believes that it is time to have a new prime minister. Some feel that way because they disapprove of the way the country is being managed, others believe that no one should be in office for so many years (over 15 in Netanyahu’s case, though not all successive) while others opine that today’s challenges would be better addressed by younger people more in tune with current norms and expectations.
Regardless of the reason, the voting public simply cannot force the change.
The only thing that could bring us to new elections before the scheduled October 2026 date would be for some members of the ruling coalition to bolt, thereby bringing down the current government and forcing new elections.
Lacking representative government, we cannot even talk to “our” member of the Knesset because, simply put, there is no “our” MK. However, it does not have to be this way.
How other democracies preserve accountability
There are other democracies that operate on a parliamentary system that also have representative governments; the two are not mutually exclusive. Britain, for example, elects members to the House of Commons by legislative district.
There, people are elected through a general election, where voters in each constituency (i.e., legislative district) choose one candidate to represent them using the “first past the post” system. The candidate with the most votes in that area wins the seat, becoming a Member of Parliament (MP). Elections are held at least every five years, and the political party that wins a majority of the seats typically forms the government.
The leader of the party that gathers the largest number of seats in parliament is then asked by the king to form a government. As is the case in Israel, one party rarely has a majority of the 650 seats and, therefore, has to build a ruling coalition.
Generally, of course, the head of the ruling party then becomes the prime minister as well.
In other countries, namely the United States, where there is a bicameral legislature, the members of the House of Representatives are elected for a two-year term, while senators are elected for six-year terms, with the president and vice-president elected separately.
House members represent individual legislative districts, as in the UK, while each US senator represents the entire state that he or she calls home.
In both these situations, the electorate retains the power of recall. If a district representative is found not to be performing to the satisfaction of the people who elected him or her, they can make their feelings known, and in the next election, vote the scoundrel out of office. That opportunity presents itself every two years. In some cases, they can even make the lives of an unpopular representative unhappy enough that the person will resign mid-term, forcing a special election to identify a replacement.
Here in Israel, we lack that option, and the members of the Knesset know it and act accordingly. Their allegiance, sadly, is primarily to the political party that put them in office and, concomitantly, to the head of that party. It is almost secular hassidut, where the party members follow the lead of their “rebbe,” the party leader, and dare not vote against the instructions from on high. All the while, the electorate has no choice but to wait until the next election.
How can this change? How can we, the electorate, convince the Knesset to change the rules that would result in many of them no longer serving and off the public dole?
It is simply not possible in the current Knesset framework.
The only option appears to be to convince younger people with fresh ides and applicable experience, call them the “miluimnikim” if you will – people who answered the call and served hundreds of days on active duty during this war after some years of experience in the workplace – to form a new party and capture as many seats in the next Knesset as possible.
There are now hundreds, if not thousands, of these young men and women who have said publicly that they are not going back to the way things were politically before October 7. Some of them have already started working on new political parties, such as Al HaDegel, intent on challenging the existing establishment and encouraging positive change.
Those of us who have been emasculated by a political system that has taken away our right of recall should support such activities and work to create a more representative and accountable parliament where those serving are responsible to those who elected them, not to the party bosses.
Thirteen years ago, then-US congressperson Ron Paul told his 14th Congressional District, Texas constituents about the US Congress: “They pretend they are fighting up there, but they really aren’t. They are arguing over power, spin, who looks good, who looks bad; all trying to preserve the system where they can spend what they want, take care of their friends, and print money when they need it.” Sounds pretty close to what we see here, does it not? Clearly, it is time for a change, and it is in our hands to make that happen.
The writer, an international business development consultant, is a former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI), a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and current chair of the Executive Committee of Congregation Ohel Nechama in Jerusalem