In life, the implications of some decisions only become clear many years later, and in certain cases, can actually lead to the opposite of the desired effect.

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An example of this is the appointment of far-right lawmaker Avi Maoz – leader of the fringe Noam faction and a known opponent of LGBTQ rights – over the new "national Jewish identity" government agency, which gives him authority over nonofficial bodies enlisted to teach our children.

But the appointment, which prompted hysteria among left-wing officials and some parents, is only the most recent development in this story.

Let's go back to 2007 when then-Education Minister Yuli Tamir first opened the door for external parties – that shared her worldview – to enter schools and establish a foothold in the education of our children, causing a butterfly effect that 15 years later would culminate in Maoz's appointment.

Although similar moves were discussed and even proposed before Tamir, she was the one who introduced the reform. She did not even hide her intentions and openly called on reformers to take advantage of her tenure to "drive a stake" through the heart of the education system.

Whether or not you agreed with Tamir's decision in 2007, she was acting within her authority and in adherence to the policies for which she was elected. As such, she solidified the ability of any other politician to determine, at his discretion, which programs, organizations, and figures Israeli students will be exposed to.

And herein lies the problem. Politicians are not interested in promoting education or expanding the minds of our children but are looking to spread their own worldview in schools. This is exactly why their ability to impact education should be limited.

Both the Left and the Right have been known to promote educational reforms for the sake of holding onto power rather than through dialogue with schools and parents.

Tamir's experiment was a double failure. Firstly, it was not in high demand and actually led to the flourishing of Orthodox associations, especially in the Religious Zionist sector. And secondly, the power that Tamir and her bloc sought ended up in the hands of people they would never have dreamed of entrusting it to.

Her hypocrisy is clear, but so is her failure.

Education programs should be as minimally influenced by politicians and their agendas as possible, and must instead be determined by administrators and parents.

As for lawmakers, they should really think about the long-term consequences of their decisions before going through with them.

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In our reality of endless debates and the constant exchange of blows between the political camps in Israel on almost every issue, the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv was a rare instance in which a consensus was reached on the media coverage of the attack and the hunt for the attacker on the streets of the city that never sleeps.

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Much has been said and written about the lawlessness with which reporters and cameramen transformed into the documenting hump on the backs of combat soldiers searching for the terrorist and their treatment of security forces. Some of the media outlets in question apologized to viewers for their conduct, and the security bodies announced they would learn the necessary lessons from the chaos that prevailed on the scene and allowed the reporters' unacceptable conduct. We all expect this problem to be dealt with immediately.

At this point, and in the hope that we are not forced to soon discover whether lessons were indeed learned, the event should have come to a close. But then the politicians jumped on the bandwagon and decided that there was no avoiding their intervening in the matter and taking control to prevent it from happening again in the future. A massive amount of lawmakers issued statements on the press that had failed, and a special joint meeting of two Knesset committees was held to clarify not only what happened but how politicians can take on the role of editor and manage the broadcast for the helpless viewers and listeners the next time around.

As odd as it is that this needs to be said in a democracy in 2022, the role of elected officials is not to oversee media content, even in the case of a failure the likes of which we witnessed in Tel Aviv. Politicians are allowed and even obligated to speak out and take a stance, but they do not have the legal ability to act to ensure what is appropriate to show on screens in accordance with standards they will never be allowed to define.

They do not have the democratic right to appoint themselves the public's babysitter, even if that public has grown accustomed to politicians running every aspect of their lives.

The real solution is simple, and it can be found far from the Knesset and in Israelis' living rooms. If you see inappropriate behavior by a TV channel, change the channel to their competition.

Regardless of their ethnicity, gender, culture, or nationality, political figures aspire to obtain the power to dictate to media outlets, how, when, and what to report. This is precisely the reason they should be denied the option of doing so. They should be prevented to the extent possible from intervening in media content. The power lies with the citizen, and transferring that power to a Knesset lawmaker would set the country down a dangerous path.

Just look at the fervor with which lawmakers acted, and their impressive attendance at the Knesset meeting on the subject. Further proof can be found in the actions and apologies issues by some media outlets, which came without prodding from the legislative branch.

The images broadcast from the scene of the terror attack were cause for concern, but the images of politicians looking to acquire more power and exert pressure on the media were no less severe.

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Defense Minister Benny Gantz dropped a verbal, ethical, and political bomb this week. Addressing a conference in Jerusalem, the Blue and White party leader revealed dangerous elements have penetrated the coalition and the government: "The military is sustaining blows from both reckless public figures, some of whom are post-Zionists who are willing to weaken us all for likes. The attempt to thwart the career [military] service framework harms security. The discourse about career soldiers is filled with lies that amount to blood libels. I have no intention of allowing this situation to continue," he said.

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It's hard to downplay the significance of Gantz's remarks, and it is hard to imagine more serious things being said by a defense minister and former IDF chief of staff. Gantz alleged that there are figures in the Israeli corridors of power who are willing to harm state security, which was never a top issue for them to begin with, for social media likes.

We nevertheless should downplay and dismiss these remarks. It seems Gantz did not even mean them. Had he placed importance on the frightening picture he painted, he would act to remove these dangerous and anonymous figures from their positions of power. At the very least, he would have resigned and refused to cooperate with the anti-Zionist subversion.

Gantz, however, has done none of the above. His strong words were not meant to serve as a warning of the current reality or a call to action but were rather in line with Israeli political fashion, which can be seen across all camps and sectors, in which the hottest trend is to issue alarming and even apocalyptic declarations purely for the sake of making them or to achieve some public relations or political objective. We are used to politicians breaking their promises, such is the way of the world, but there are some declarations from which there can be no return.

If you claimed the Ra'am party is infested with terror supporters and is a sister movement to Hamas, you have no right to establish a government with it or form a coalition with its assistance. If you told the public establishing a government with 10 Knesset seats is undemocratic, you have lost your right to do so because democracies do not take anti-democratic action.

If just yesterday, you claimed emergency legislation on the coronavirus was dictatorial, you cannot make use of that same legislation when you come to power without explaining how it is that you are not carrying out dictatorial action. If you authorized such actions in the past, you have lost the right to cry out about the injustice of it all.

Yet none of these laws do not apply in Israel. Judging by the meaningless statements issued by the country's leaders, who wind up doing the very thing they initially warned against, the State of Israel today is a dictatorship led by, among other things, those who seek to destroy its security and spill its fighters' blood.  After all, that is what they themselves said before taking power.

Of course, these statements have no grip on reality, and that's a good thing. Tragically, a reality in which the leadership cries wolf and rushed to embrace the real wolf for political benefit poses just as much danger.

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There was minor embarrassment in political circles this week when the Yesh Atid election committee announced that party chairman Yair Lapid would serve another term as leader after no one applied to run against him.

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Naturally, there was no celebration, and there was a strange feeling surrounding Lapid's "election" and win.

But given the electoral victory, one might ask, why aren't the supporters of Lapid known as "Lapidists," the same way that supporters of Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu are called "Bibists"?

If we look at how the "Bibists" are portrayed in politics and in the media, we'll find a group of people that supposedly worship a leader regardless of his conduct, who are ready to forgive him any trespass as long as he remains in power, who will ignore lies, tyrannical conduct, and steps to "purge" the leaders' opponents from the party ranks.

Could there be a politician, a party, or supporters who better fit that description than Yesh Atid and its voters? Lapid's control of the party, as proved this week, is unquestioned and lacking any marks of democracy. Criticism of the Yesh Atid supreme leader is rarer than snow in Tel Aviv, and even if you look really hard, you won't find a word against him from any party members or supporters. The few who dared think differently than they were expected to, much less say so publicly – like former No. 2 Ofer Shelah or former MK Adi Kol – were cast out into the political wilderness.

There is also total silence about Lapid's behavior. Appointing relatives to coveted positions? Totally natural. Going back on every possible election promise? Nothing to see here. Zigzagging and contradictory remarks on a weekly basis? The natural result of wonderful leadership. Lapid cannot err, and if he does, there's usually a reason. And if you say anything different, the leader will take care to show you the door.

"Lapidism" is everything that the "Bibi herd" is supposed to be, and much more so. But while the latter are targeted by contempt and mockery as if they were blind and stupid, the insult "Lapidists" has never been voiced. It doesn't exist, and there's a simple reason for that.

The term "Bibism" is actually a euphemism that says one thing but means something else – sometimes it refers to Mizrahi voters, sometimes to settlers, and sometimes to the Haredim, but it will always mean someone who thinks wrongly, who is unenlightened, unsophisticated, and very herd-like.

But Lapid supporters? They can't be like that. "Lapidism" is a reasonable, individual, and progressive movement. There aren't any "Lapidists," because the choice to support him is natural and desirable. It's for our own good, and represents a sane future for us all. And if you decide to think otherwise? It's probably just because you support Bibi.

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Cheerful and contented, senior Israeli defense officials visited the Gaza border on Wednesday to celebrate the completion of the anti-tunnel underground barrier after four years of construction. Among them were the defense minister and his deputy, the IDF chief of staff and several other high-ranking generals, along with other defense ministry representatives and Gaza-area regional council heads. Journalists, too, were invited to revel at engineering marvel and received a guided tour of the grandiose project.

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There's nothing inherently wrong, of course, with joyous ceremonies, and yet it's hard not to wonder what was actually being celebrated on our southern border. To be sure, the underground barrier, and the fact that it negates Hamas' ability to penetrate Israel with its underground terror tunnels, is a technological wonder worthy of praise and recognition. But is yet another layer of defense – buttressed by countless other technological tools encircling the shtetl known as Israel with walls and Iron Domes to protect the frightened Jews from the non-Jews plotting their demise – a reason to celebrate? Perhaps not.

When and under what pretext did the IDF abandon the ethos of "pushing beyond the fence," whereby victory cannot be achieved through a defensive posture and fortifications, but only by aggressively engaging the enemy on his own territory? And when was it decided that it was no longer a cardinal rule to never allow the enemy to breach a security perimeter? It isn't clear. What is clear is the fact that in 2021, officials entrusted with safeguarding the Jewish state are calculating when and how the enemy will rise to strike at us, instead of causing the enemy to tremble at the mere thought of the Jews coming to strike at him first.

The greatest irony in this farcical story is that as this ceremony was taking place, Hamas leaders were sitting in their offices, sipping warm tea, continuing to plot new ways to harm Israel and its citizens. They are also arming and equipping themselves virtually unhindered while holding a monopoly on the decision of when and under what circumstance the next war will begin.

We don't need to imagine how this manifests. It has already happened. When they infiltrated on land, we built fences. When they began firing missiles, we built the Iron Dome system, whose limits the enemy is always testing. When our enemies built underground terror tunnels, we invested astronomical sums of money into building an underground security barrier. We can only assume the IDF is already preparing for tomorrow's threat, when Hamas builds a system that threatens us from the sea.

In Israel, this threat will be taken seriously. Engineers will be recruited, vast sums of money will be spent, experiments will be held, until the solution is found. The construction will last a few years, and then, sometime around 2030, officers, defense officials, and journalists will again be invited, this time to some beach, to celebrate the completion of a sea barrier.

The sophisticated defensive systems Israel has built on its own are important and save lives, but the defense establishment has become addicted to them and the fictitious quiet they manufacture. We can only hope the weaning process from these systems isn't too costly.

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With Hanukkah as an inspiration, one might find some light in the ongoing, incredible images of what appears to be a continuance of the Arab uprising that started during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May. The fight at the entrance to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, the most important roads in Jerusalem being blocked for wedding celebrations, and the "standard" shouts aimed at Jews in mixed cities are all disturbing and cause real concern for what awaits us. But there is one ray of light, which is the end to the perception of Israel as an "apartheid state."

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For years, radical left-wing Israeli groups, with help from their friends overseas and MKs from the deluded Left, have claimed that the Jewish state is an apartheid regime. One would need an enormous amount of historical ignorance and blindness to look at the sights that happen over and over again and imagine using the term "apartheid" after "Israel." And if there is something like it, it is without a doubt the most failed attempt at apartheid in human history.

Here are two instances that illustrate how absurd the claim is. This week, police arrested a young Arab man after he was caught on camera blocking the Begin Highway in Jerusalem as part of a wedding celebration. The incident took place three months ago. He was known to the police and they fined him. Only after the footage was released on social media did the police remember to make arrests.

In the second incident, minors blocked off the entrance to Jerusalem during the Ahuvia Sandak protests and were beaten and arrested, led off to the court in handcuffs and with their feet bound. In South Africa, could the oppressed have been treated with kid gloves, while the oppressor was led in cuffs to a jail cell? The answer is clear. Were Black South Africans under the boot of apartheid allowed to riot, stab, and shoot at the entrance to a hospital, and find themselves at home a week later? It's doubtful.

Another option is that Israel is operating under a kind of "reverse apartheid," one that discriminates, but gently, and is soft on criminals when it comes to appointing doctors and judges and MKs, even if they support terrorism against citizens of the state. On the other hand, to cause the Arab minority to suffer and discriminate against them from north to south, the government that "oppresses" them allows them to express support for unchecked violence and promise that it will resurface during the next war.

Ironically, it was the violent Arab nationalists raising their heads that smashed the delusion that if we would ignore the danger, it would disappear, and also proved that claims that Israel is a racist, discriminatory country are some of the biggest lies told about it.

It's time to shelve the apartheid theory, even if it's not clear that will help. Anyone who tries to miscast Israel as a racist dystopia doesn't intend to stop. Claims about "apartheid" were just part of a long list of excuses. Once it was infiltrators, then settlers, then "processes identified with the 1930s." The name changes, but the goal stays the same – to find darkness within the light. They see Israel as an evil state going back to the Maccabees, the source of all trouble and ills. It's time to find a new campaign and drop the ridiculous "apartheid" claim.

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"The end of an era" is a phrase we often hear in the media to describe the challenging times we are going through.

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Indeed, we have witnessed several such ends in recent days. While some are real, like the completion of the 12-year-long tenure of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, others never existed in the first place, like disunity, division and lack of statehood.

Yet, there is one "end of an era" that gets almost no attention in the media. Gone are the days when the voter's voice mattered. The arrival of the new government and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made sure of that.

The voters are the same people who took the time to get to the voting booths believing that their actions matter, the same public who is meant to have a say in the shaping of the country. The voter has become the means, not the end. Bennett has robbed the concept of all meaning through actions he himself described as undemocratic.

Unfortunately, he was not the first politician to go back on his election campaign promises. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin pledged to protect the Golan Heights, only to withdraw from the area completely. Netanyahu vowed to end Hamas, which he, obviously, hasn't. False promises were made by Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Shamir, and the list goes on.

Nevertheless, there is a stark difference between these leaders and Bennett, for they had a vast number of supporters and voters and paid dearly when they betrayed those who placed their trust in them. In contrast, Bennett is not paying any price. His voters are.

In 2013, when Uri Orbach congratulated Bennett on entering the Knesset, he expressed hope that Religious Zionism would become the bridge to connect all spheres in Israel, not one they would trample on.

Eight years later, Religious Zionism has, in fact, become a bridge, one that is trampled on in order to get to the prime minister's office.

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The first signs of victory over the coronavirus pandemic are exhilarating. Words like "lockdown, quarantine, morbidity" no longer dominate the news headlines. Instead, we read about "returning to normal," "opening the country," and even "vacationing and going to the cinema."

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It might be too early to celebrate, and we must remain cautious. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we can finally think about the future. 

One of the first things we should contemplate is recognizing the "soldiers" who fought in this war – i.e., the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly and dedicatedly to treat our sick – with a special citation. The healthcare staff has been the only source of stability during this chaos. 

Until now, Israel has glorified its military accomplishments. Every child in Israel learns about its military heroes, and rightfully so. Time has come to stress the importance of healthcare workers in our civil system too. 

These doctors and nurses, who worked three shifts in a row, and continued to provide service despite exhaustion and lack of sleep, will not be showered with flowers upon returning from service. Nobody is naming streets after those who brought a person back to life. There is no such thing as a victory march of scientists and anesthesiologists. These heroes will continue to stand guard long after the memory of the coronavirus fades from our memory.  

Most Western countries have a well-developed system in place for civilian awards and medals. Israel has several awards too.

The President's Medal has been awarded throughout the years with great generosity. It can also be presented to foreign leaders. For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel received it in 2014. 

Creating a medal for healthcare workers is an opportunity to establish a system that commemorates and praises only Israelis and only for contributions to fields unrelated to the military. 

It might still be too early to celebrate and award medals, but it is not too early to begin thinking about it and propose a bill to the government. 

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Six years ago, in a small Jerusalem event hall filled with kippahs, head coverings, and stale pastries, the Tkuma party selected the people who would represent it in the Knesset as part of Naftali Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi faction in the 2015 election campaign.

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The Israeli public was unfamiliar with the party, which represents religious Zionism's conservative and ultra-Orthodox stream, and found it justifiably difficult to differentiate between the different factions comprising the national-religious community. Even the leader that was chosen to represent them, Bezalel Smotrich, was fairly anonymous at the time.

Many political upheavals and what seems like endless election campaigns later, Smotrich had parted ways with Bennett, rejoined him, managed to be appointed transportation minister, and mainly become the religious-Zionist party's greatest dilemma. In fact, Smotrich isn't just the religious-Zionists' dilemma, but one for the entire Right. He is at the very center of the debate as to where Israel's nationalist camp is headed.

On the one hand, Smotrich embodies everything the Right could ever want in a leader. A gifted politician, Smotrich is able to put theory into practice and is loyal not just to his values, but to the public he represents. Even his most vocal opponents on the Left, including those who find his views vile, would be hard-pressed not to praise his work at the Transportation Ministry and have been impressed by his abilities to act behave in a businesslike manner even with political rivals.

Smotrich may also be the only politician to the Right of Netanyahu to have succeeded in criticizing the prime minister while at the same time publicly recognizing his leadership and achievements. Smotrich has stood alongside Netanyahu when it comes to the prime minister's legal troubles. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume this is a politician cast from the kind of material of which the next generation of prime ministers is made.

On the other hand, Smotrich is a political hawk who has developed an excessive appetite for scandal. On his resume, one finds outrageous remarks and unnecessary confrontations that infuriated and deterred many. This is a religious ideologue, someone who will refuse to back down from their positions on issues of religion and state and who seems to suffer from an excessive case of sectorialism. To be clear, his opinions are legitimate; Smotrich is not the fundamentalist racist some would paint him out to be.

Nevertheless, his positions are in direct contrast to the range of views held by the Israeli mainstream, including those on the Right who respect tradition and are interested in emphasizing the State of Israel's Jewish character but also see themselves as more liberal and open-minded on issues such as same-sex relationships or changing the status quo on matters of religion and state.

It is within this reality that Smotrich can be seen as both an asset and a burden, and not just for Bennett, who will have to decide whether or not to continue his alliance with Smotrich in the upcoming election. The Israeli Right is at a point where it must decide in what direction it is headed and whether to continue its alliance with the ultra-Orthodox as well as Smotrich and the public he represents. The path the Right chooses could impact not only its future, but the identity of the country's leadership in the post-Netanyahu era.

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The only thing members of the government and coalition can't be accused of is inconsistency. With monotonous punctuality, on days they are required to vote on or discuss a certain matter, the heads and alternate heads of the government, cabinet ministers and members of Knesset come together for their weekly ritual of mutual flagellation, squabbling and threats. "If you don't hold us back really tightly," they warn, "we'll go to early elections, and believe us – it's their fault, not ours."

Their rituals are familiar, their combativeness synthetic; only the dates change. Endless spins, contempt for the people and moronic, futile initiatives between election rounds in this flyweight boxing match between politicians we are all forced to watch as a captive audience.

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This week, however, new records for cynicism were broken. In response to the failure to pass a national budget and for other reasons, members of the Blue and White party said that under orders from their leader, Benny Gantz, three bills will soon be put up for a vote. The first is Basic Law: Equality, which would ban discrimination; the second is a surrogacy law aimed at expanding the circle of women eligible for the procedure and regulating the use of an overseas surrogate; and the third is Basic Law: Declaration of Independence, aimed at ensuring the status of the declaration as a source of inspiration obligating Israeli legal interpretation. Whether you support or reject these legislative proposals, either partially or entirely – there's no arguing these are important issues and dramatic legislative initiatives worthy of public debate, understanding, and examination of their consequences.

Writing words in vain, however, is a shame and a waste, so before you run out to read the position papers and discuss the need or lack thereof for the proposed legislation – stop! Spare your energy, sweat and gray matter. Blue and White doesn't really mean to pass these bills, nor does it particularly care about doing so. Equality, independence and legal inspiration are all important, but less as principles and more as political weapons, protein for the muscle-flexing against the Likud, ornamentation for the show they are putting on for the sake of a public they view as a heard of fools.

The other side, of course, is not blameless either, also using legislation solely for political leverage. Threaten us with Basic Law: Equality? We'll respond by dusting off the override clause. You want to fire at us with a basic law predicated on the Declaration of Independence? We'll fire back with an appointments bill. Bombard us with a toothless submarine commission? We'll take an eye for an eye with our own investigation into Gantz's former company, the Fifth Dimension.

In this battle of the trenches only survival matters, and in the no man's land between these opposing armies, trapped Israelis are used as human shields to be wounded, scrapped and sacrificed for a juicy headline. Blue and White doesn't really care about the surrogacy issue, just as the Likud doesn't really care about reforming the judicial system. This week they will fervently support one thing and next week they will move on to something else.

It isn't clear how long this theater of the absurd will last, but until the Knesset is dispersed one way or another, we can say with certainty that vital new legislation that won't pass will be presented every week, that more commissions of inquiry that won't change a thing will be established, and that mainly, lots of beautiful promises will be bandied about that no one has any chance of keeping.

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