Israel's next election battle is barely out of the gate, yet the negative campaigning already is in full swing.
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The political left has launched an old and tired election campaign refrain: Israel's "democratic and Jewish soul" is at stake because the right-wing will drive Israel back to medieval times. The political right is pumping out the ugly message that the Bennett-Lapid "change coalition" sold Israel out to the Arabs and if re-elected will be the end of Zionism.
Both are false and dangerous narratives that damage Israel. Both these delegitimizing discourses must be avoided.
An example of the former discourse appears in an op-ed article published abroad this week by an esteemed Israeli writer. He goes overboard in angst about overwhelming dangers to Israel if a "terrifying" Israeli government is elected: "an anti-democratic coalition of ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties, headed by former prime minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu."
"A victory for the Netanyahu coalition would empower forces that despise democratic norms and minority rights," as opposed to the outgoing Bennett-Lapid government, which "had a deeper mission to affirm Israel's dual identity as a Jewish and democratic state."
But it is just not true that the Bennett-Lapid government "had a deeper mission to affirm Israel's dual identity as a Jewish and democratic state." It is nice to describe it that way, and I am all in favor of such sentiment. But the government plainly was about latching onto whatever political coalition possible to wedge Netanyahu out of office, period.
Bringing in the Islamist Arab party Raam was not a choice of principle but of necessity. And this would have been unthinkable and politically impossible had Netanyahu not opened the door to this in his own desperate search for a coalition government – which was based on an unprecedented approach to Raam.
Moreover, all polls show that even if Netanyahu has a chance to form the next Israeli government, he will have to craft a coalition involving centrist parties that have a moderating influence. He might even have to rely on Raam! So, it is riotously alarmist to paint Israel's future in very dark colors should Netanyahu form another government ("a coalition that would empower forces that despise democratic norms and minority rights").
Such incautious talk only feeds into the delegitimization of Israel that is increasingly common discourse in liberal circles abroad. It also sets the stage for "wiser" actors to intervene "to save Israel despite itself" – which is another hackneyed and grievous direction in progressive discourse.
On the flip side, it is important to reject the charge that the Bennett-Lapid government betrayed Zionism by embracing Mansour Abbas of Raam and allocating many billions of shekels to the advancement of the Israeli Arab and Bedouin sectors.
On the contrary, this was the right thing to do. Long overdue. (And truth be told, the previous Netanyahu governments had moved in this direction with bigger-than-ever budgets for employment and education in the Israeli Arab sector, including in eastern Jerusalem.)
It also is important to reject Likud allegations that the Bennett-Lapid government weakened Israel in the defense and diplomatic arenas.
On the contrary, the (alas, short-lived) government proved that there is security for Israel without Netanyahu at the helm; that Palestinian terrorism and Iranian aggression can be countered effectively without Netanyahu at the helm; that the Abraham Accords can be advanced, and that ties to Washington and the West can be strengthened – without Netanyahu in the Prime Minister's office.
All in all, Israelis should tolerate neither the drumbeat of warnings about "dangers to Israeli democracy" made by the Israeli left against the right, nor insidious insinuations about anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish leanings made by the Israeli right against the center and left.
It is obscene and boorish to portray Israeli society as bisected by two warring narratives: that of a moral, liberal, democratic, universalist Israeli Left, versus an immoral, illiberal, isolationist, hyper-nationalist Israeli Right. Or a defeatist and pagan Israeli Left, versus an inspired and proud Israeli Right.
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These are false dichotomies, fictitious accounts of Israeli society. They must not be abided as the basis for our coming election campaign.
Instead, let's have a worthy debate in Israel about important public policy matters, over which there is a continuum of respectable views that defy crude categorization as democratic or anti-democratic, Jewish or anti-Jewish, Zionist or anti-Zionist.
David M. Weinberg is a senior fellow at The Kohelet Forum and Habithonistim: Israel's Defense and Security Forum. His diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 25 years are archived at www.davidmweinberg.com.
