After the next election: Let the government govern - editorial

For the last two days, Remembrance Day and Independence Day, Israel has focused primarily on the past: On the sacrifices that enabled Jewish sovereignty in a Jewish homeland – including the mind-numbing sacrifices of the last seven months – and on the remarkable feats achieved over the last 76 years.

Now, it is time to look forward. Where does the country go from here, and how will it best get there?

One of the country’s problems has been a lack of definition: of itself and of where it wants to go. So busy and preoccupied with short-term issues, the long-term has been given short-shrift. For long, the national mindset has been to just get through today and worry about tomorrow when it arrives. In the meantime, things will work themselves out. Yihye beseder (It’ll be OK) was the hopeful if unreliable catchphrase of the building years.

Government lacks defined roles

Except that sometimes it isn’t, and over the last few years this modus operandi – this improvising solution on the fly – has caught up with the country.

A failure to clearly define what is meant by the term a “Jewish-democratic” state led to the judicial overhaul crisis of 2023. This was compounded by the country’s failure historically to clearly define the powers of each branch of government.

A failure to define the state’s relationship with various segments of its population – the ultra-Orthodox (haredim) and the Arabs – led to those communities often acting independently of the central government during the COVID-19 years. Further, the failure to lay down what the state expects from its citizens has led to the festering issue of haredi exemptions from the army.

Furthermore, a failure to clearly state what the country wants to do with the territories won in the Six-Day War has led to a situation where Israel is all too often reacting to the proposals of others, rather than stating clearly what it wants. Too often Israel’s policies depend on what the Americans will agree to, what the Europeans will countenance, what Palestinians will say, and how the Saudis will react. Too often cardinal issues such as what to ultimately do with Judea and Samaria, and Gaza, depend on others.

“Depends,” however, is not policy. You can’t achieve what you don’t define, and Israel has not clearly defined cardinal issues that go to the core of its existence.

There are good reasons for this – these issues are hard. At a certain point, however, you can’t kick the proverbial can down the road anymore because eventually the can will hit a wall. Which is where Israel is now on several key issues.

As Israel moves forward, it needs – as difficult as it is – to define these issues.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s present government will – at a certain point – fall and new elections will be called. It’s unclear exactly how or when, but it will happen – the chances that this government will live out its full term until October 2026 are very slim.

When that day arrives, when the government does fall, two things will be required for the overall good of the country. The first is for the next election campaign to center not on personalities – yes, Netanyahu; no, Netanyahu – but rather on visions: on what the state should look like, where it wants to go, how the relations between different segments of the country can be better arranged.

The second thing is that once the elections are over, the public needs to accept the results and let the government govern. Thousands of people are taking to the streets once again demanding new elections, and their sentiment is understandable, considering the country’s situation. But it is not enough just to hold elections, people need to accept the results of those elections, even if their choice loses.

Since the country entered a spiral of five elections in under four years in 2019, it has become almost ungovernable. When Naftali Bennett established his government in 2021, Netanyahu and the Likud-led opposition did everything possible to prevent it from effectively governing. When Netanyahu set up his government in 2022, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Liberman, and Benny Gantz – the latter at least up until October 7 – returned the favor.

The country can no longer afford to operate in that manner. Critical decisions need to be made. Not everyone will be happy with those decisions, but the rules of the game need to be honored and the government needs to function. The alternative is dangerous stagnation or worse.