Editor’s Notes: It’s time for a right-wing vision for Israel

It isn’t a secret: Israel is becoming a more right-wing and conservative country, definitely so after the October 7 attacks. Most governments elected in the past few decades have been right-wing or had representation from the Israeli Right. 

In addition, since the beginning of the war, Israelis have become more right-wing when it comes to their approach to the conflict. 

A survey for the “Reservists Until Victory” association, which advocates for continuing the conflict in Gaza, showed 92% of participants support fighting until Hamas is weakened. Conducted among 700 Jewish Israelis in January, 87% backed the fight against Hamas and for total control over Gaza, with only 7% opposed. 

Opposition to returning the Palestinian Authority to Gaza was strong across major political parties, with majorities from Likud, National Unity, and Yesh Atid against it. 

Additionally, 71% said they favored Israel encouraging mass emigration of Gazans out of the Strip, with 17% opposed.

Those who are right-winged believe the government has failed

That said, a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute earlier this week found that a vast majority of Jews, with 83% of those identified as right-wing, believe that the policies of Israeli governments in recent years, notably under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have failed, particularly regarding Hamas. 

This sentiment spans political affiliations, with a consensus that these policies had a role in Hamas’s success on October 7. 

While the overall Jewish agreement is high, the study highlights a significant divide in perception between Jewish and Arab communities, with a notably lower agreement rate of 55% among Arabs.

Netanyahu is the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in our short history as a state and has been one for most of the past two decades. 

While heading the Likud political party, the largest and most prominent movement on Israel’s right, there must be something wrong with the way he managed Israel on many fronts – some of which allowed the October 7 attacks to take place.

Kohelet Forum is scaling back operations

IN ADDITION to the above, an interesting development occurred last week: The Kohelet Policy Forum, Israel’s most prominent conservative think tank, announced that it has decided to scale back its operations.

Responding to a report in Israel Hayom newspaper, the forum said:“The scope of Kohelet Forum’s activity increased over the years, and we were privileged to establish new departments that dealt with diverse policy issues, within which dozens of researchers worked. 

Since [the October 7 attack on] Simchat Torah, the forum and its employees have been focused on contributing to the national collective effort.”

Before the war, one of Kohelet’s chief donors, Arthur Dantchik, announced he would cease funding the forum.

JTA reported in August that Dantchik, a Wall Street billionaire, made this decision following sustained pressure from activists opposed to the judicial reforms, which they argued threaten Israeli democracy.

Responding to the divisiveness the reforms have sparked within Israeli society, he emphasized the importance of unity and democracy in his statement on halting donations to Israeli think tanks, including Kohelet. While the amount Dantchik donated was not disclosed, he is considered to be the think tank’s largest funder. 

The Kohelet Policy Forum, known for its influence on Netanyahu’s government, employs numerous policy experts. The cessation of Dantchik’s funding coincides with increased activist protests and comes amid broader philanthropic shifts in response to Israel’s political climate, including the Dan David Foundation’s announcement to halt donations to Israeli government projects.

Kohelet chairman Moshe Koppel told Jerusalem Post political correspondent Eliav Breuer and me earlier this week about the judicial reform: “Do I think the politicians did a perfect job in rolling this out and selling it? No, they didn’t. They had their considerations… This could have been done differently.”

So who are these politicians? Kohelet, a conservative think tank, works mainly with right-wing politicians, but they aren’t precisely aligned with Koppel on every single issue – on the contrary.

Koppel, an American mathematician who made aliyah from the US, is worldly, obviously speaks English, and is more diplomatic than most Likud or Religious Zionism Party members.

IN 2020, during an interview with now-Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, then a rabbi heading a rabbinic organization, he shared his frustration that he and his constituents don’t speak English.

He explained that his group has been dedicating more of their efforts “toward the Land of Israel than towards the People of Israel. Being more aligned with the Haredi-Leumi (National Haredi) ideology typically means speaking less English and more Aramaic.

“Within this community, there’s a prevailing belief that learning English isn’t important. Consequently, the discourse within Haredi-Leumi circles is markedly nationalistic and lacks an international perspective,” Eliyahu said.

In that same interview, he elaborated that there’s a “disdain within his community towards Jews who do not immigrate to Israel.

Asked if it had to do with classic Zionism, he answered, “I would describe it more as apathy. The sentiment is that we have enough tasks and challenges here in Israel, especially concerning religion-state issues and security.”

Eliyahu is right: Many religious-Zionist alums don’t speak English, though they study it in school, as opposed to the haredi community. In addition, there has been a focus on security settlements but less on diplomacy, the connection between religion and state, and a solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

WHAT IS truly needed, first of all, is a period of internal discussions within the right-wing Israeli camp to see where they have succeeded, but mainly where they have failed. 

The year before October 7 was toxic, ugly, and full of stupid politicians saying stupid things. This isn’t only a result of right-wing ideology, but many who claimed to represent these ideals behaved in a terrible and undiplomatic way.

Afterward, Israel’s right needs to either establish more think tanks or change the character of the current ones. Conservative Israelis should have a straightforward approach to the conflict and suggest practical solutions. We cannot keep on dragging our feet any longer while we are surrounded by nations that want to destroy us. 

There also needs to be a program, or programs, to get more in the camp to speak and write in English. Right-wing Israelis should have an evident attitude towards Diaspora Jewry, a subject many have neglected until now.

“How is it that people of faith, tasked with representing the State of Israel’s mission globally, find it difficult to communicate in English?” Eliyahu recently asked the Srugim news site. “I include myself in this; facing an interview with the BBC, the fear of stuttering through an English sentence looms large. Our duty to the State of Israel encompasses its international standing.”

Learning English, or any other language, allows any individual to have a more worldly point of view and to know how to interact with people of different cultures. As mentioned, most of the Israelis are more aligned with Israel’s right-wing ideologies. 

Therefore, it is about time for these brilliant people in think tanks to offer realistic and pragmatic suggestions for how Israel should navigate this turbulence, win this war, and rebuild our country.