Israeli democracy is looking a little like a circus, with jugglers tossing flaming torches around and pudgy clowns in polka-dot suits balancing on top of balls. Wonderfully flexible aerial artists balance on a high wire. The audience claps in enjoyment at the performers, who for a moment help them forget about the reality outside the tent.
A smiling democracy is always preferable to a stern rule of one. If the price of democracy is another election, that's not a bad thing, not if we make a decision. For there to be a clear decision, without a fourth or fifth election, it's important that the people be presented with candidates' positions and principles on basic issues, and not pyrotechnics made up of flimsy slogans that insult the voters' intelligence. The matter of the cost of the election is a minor one, because transitional governments save a lot of money.
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The political Left will continue to rehash the investigations involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The buzzwords "anyone but Bibi," "immunity," and "resignation" will hog the headlines. The Blue and White lie "Israel Above All" will again appear on billboards. Fake pundits will do everything they can to convince the people that the Likud is responsible for the third election. Every Likud member, no matter their rank, who is willing to speak out against Netanyahu will get a starring spot in the news, and worthless polls will try to fool the public.
Slogans aside, this is an enormously important election. Blue and White leader Benny Gantz can try and sell his sympathy for the haredim and his love for the religious – even messianic – Jews, but that isn't what Blue and White is about. No. 2 Yair Lapid decided to give up a rotating spot as party leader because he didn't need it. He's the one who decides things, anyway. I have more faith in MK Ofer Shelah, who talks about two states for two peoples, than Gantz, who talks about how many Gazans were killed during his time as IDF chief of staff.
The Israeli Right must overcome its inherent self-destructiveness. This time, the battle is truly for our home. In every election, the Left rubs its hands in glee when right-wingers waste their talent in internecine fighting instead of taking on the Left.
The Declaration of Independence, which David Ben-Gurion read out in one of the biggest moments in Jewish history, talks about the Land of Israel, in which the Jewish people came into being. Israel has always been considered the national home of the Jewish people. The left-wing bloc under Blue and White wants to change the essence of the nation, from a Jewish state to a state of all its citizens. The way they see it, being a free people in our own country means being free of anything Jewish.
It is vital that the parties devote themselves to what matters and leave the trivia aside. We must discuss the nation's future path, its achievements and problems, lay out principled stances and bring them to the public for a vote. It is very clear to me that the winner will be whoever focuses on the real questions.
