The one who declared Wednesday that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi's resignation comes too little, too late was right. Halevi, like the rest of the security leadership, should have removed their uniforms and devoted themselves to writing memoirs more than a year ago.

But the central problem isn't the resignation of one senior official or another – it's how to rid ourselves of a worldview and mental universe that has distorted the entire security leadership for more than a generation. How do we return the military's leaders and security bodies to their true role, instead of serving as consciousness engineers, diplomats, legal advisors and welfare officers? How do we restore confidence to the heads of the defense establishment?

Halevi is an excellent person, among the best we have in uniform. He failed dramatically in his situation assessment on the night between Oct. 6–7, and for this reason alone he should have laid down his baton when war broke out. But even his failure in analyzing the situation on that cursed night stemmed from the truly deep affliction that infected him and most of his predecessors, which influenced his decision and that of the other participants in that nighttime consultation.

This is the affliction that caused them to err so extremely and not understand who the enemy facing us was, what their goals were, what size threat they posed. The affliction that caused them not to properly prepare the military, to reduce and distort it, to instill in it a spirit of appeasement, cowardice and denial of reality.

This fundamental flaw isn't a disease that erupted in the current generation of commanders. It has characterized, with few exceptions, all IDF chiefs, Shin Bet heads and General Staff members of the past 40 years. Since each of these senior officers grew and was promoted by their predecessors, they became their mirror images. No wonder Benny Gantz, another excellent person who was the weak and failed chief of staff during Operation Protective Edge, is the one who appointed Halevi as chief of staff in a snap move on the eve of the previous elections. He wanted to ensure the continuation of the dynasty, which now must be severed and replaced with something different.

The dramatic turning point came during Ehud Barak's tenure as chief of staff, during Oslo. While Barak warned in private that the agreement was "full of holes like Swiss cheese," loyal only to his personal career – as was his way, he fell in line. Barak also caused the entire leadership to "change the disk," under orders from Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. The military and Shin Bet leadership has worn these reality-distorting glasses from then until today.

But the truth is that this epidemic began spreading even earlier, somewhere in the 1980s. The security leadership was gradually mentally neutered under the influence of political, legal and media factors. When every brigade commander was forced to employ considerations of a diplomat, international law advisor and social worker; and every general became a public opinion advisor dealing with leveraging, signaling and messaging, instead of defeating the enemy. This is a disruption that was imposed on the security leadership due to the weakness of leaders and loss of direction by our social leaders.

As someone who led so many chiefs of staff and Shin Bet heads with a distorted mentality, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must also resign immediately – his successors will "return the disk" to its proper place.

The epidemic intensified when leaders went off the rails and pushed delusional adventures like Oslo, the Gaza Disengagement, the flight from Lebanon and the Second Lebanon War. At these critical junctures, the system's leaders were forced to adopt a conceptual world opposite to military DNA and basic logic. Thus, the classic role of military and security services – to defend us, took on an opposite meaning: they became marketers of appeasement, tying of hands, failures and defeats. We were left without commanders to protect us – and we saw the results on Oct. 7 and since.

Therefore, Halevi must be replaced by a chief of staff capable of revolution and installing new-old software: returning the IDF to simply being an army. An army that decisively destroys the enemy – in Gaza, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria. The same goes for the Shin Bet and Mossad.

An army whose leaders don't conduct negotiations for hostage releases. Don't share secrets with enemy leadership, in the style of Palestinian "parallels" or senior Qatari and Egyptian officials. Who leave diplomacy, law and social work to others. Who provide a counterweight of aggression and strength against the winds of appeasement and cowardice blowing from within. Commanders who will lead the army with speed, cunning and courage, exactly as all good commanders have done throughout history.

Still, the heavy responsibility of Halevi, the Shin Bet's Ronen Bar and the rest of the security leadership doesn't reduce one milligram from that of Netanyahu. The fundamental, deep blame rests on him more than anyone, as someone who led and guided so many chiefs of staff and Shin Bet heads with distorted mentality and weak performance over the years. He too must resign, immediately. His successors will be required to "return the disk" to its proper place.

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Last Shabbat in the Washington periphery was an extremely pleasant one. The crowds thronged the National Mall lined with its many museums, extending from the Capitol grounds to the Washington Monument, while downtown Washington DC was the scene of a vibrant, multi-colored Gay Pride march that snaked its way across the hub of the capital city, in an exuberant atmosphere of joyous celebration and fun. But at the same time, opposite the obelisk in memory of the first president, George Washington, a completely different march was slowly crawling along – a march of hatred, ignorance and evil. Thousands of protesters in red costumes, kaffiyehs and PLO flags proceeded along the heavily protected sidewalk, making it patently clear why they had come here from all over the US: "No to a two-state solution – we want 1948," "From the River Jordan to the Sea," "Free – Free Palestine," "Intifada – Revolution."

The majority of those demonstrating were extremely young, most of them non-Arab Americans. The meticulous organization of the event was clearly apparent – in each group, the chanting of slogans was led by a different young girl, screaming out uniform messages from her iPhone. I walked amongst them for some time, and although the passersby did not tend to stop and express their identification with the protesters, the overall scene was an extremely depressing and worrying sight.

At the same time, not far away from there, at the enormous Marriott Hotel, preparations were well underway to begin the annual conference of the AJC, the American Jewish Committee, the large and senior representative organization of US Jewry, which has assumed an even broader function as the "global advocacy organization for the Jewish people". More than 2,000 representatives gathered here, fueled by a profound sense of crisis and emergency, if not a genuine 'seismic disruption'. The war in Israel has become intertwined with the genuine sense of battle for their own home, which could not have been more poignantly, or aptly manifested in the hate demonstration that marched a mere stone's throw away from there.

The stage, the discussions and the audience as a whole were replete with experiences similar to those we have become accustomed to seeing on the news on a daily basis. Most of those attending the AJC Forum were Jewish Americans, staunch supporters of Israel of the classic variety – not orthodox Jews, but those Jews, who for more than 100 years, until last October, firmly believed that there strong connection with the liberals in the US would guarantee both their rights as Jews and their lives. It is for this reason that they worked to promote the rights of Afro-Americans, the Hispanic population the LGBT community and even whales, and now – something deep down inside them was undermined following October 7. Although the opinion polls in the US show that support for Israel remains widespread and unflagging, many of them have experienced traumas that have undercut their sense of personal security, alongside their confidence in all that they had believed in regarding their existence in their land. Paradoxically, it is precisely the ties of many of the participants with the liberals that was the cause of them being struck such a heavy blow – they have been thoroughly shaken up by the extent of the betrayal by the American left and the resulting horrifying outburst of antisemitism.

No longer remains in the family

The situation in the universities – the demonstrations, the hatred, the treachery of many lecturers and all the rest of the associated issues that you have heard in recent months took center stage at the conference. Two inspirational female Jewish student leaders, one from the 'front line' at Columbia University in New York and one from Germany, were given an award for their determined stand against the violent protesters. But nobody made any attempt to sugarcoat the situation, on the contrary – it was quite evident that we have gone back 100 years in time, to a time of frightening antisemitism, and the question posed was how we can take an effective position to stand up to this monster.

In a survey conducted by the organization among Jews in the US that was published earlier this week, 64% of those questioned testified that the events since October have had an impact on their relationship with their fellow Americans. At the same time, worrying statistics were revealed regarding the impact of these events on their daily conduct. Many Jews avoid engaging strangers in a conversation broaching issues that are connected to events on the news, there are those who actively conceal their Jewish identity, while many testified to an underlying sense of a lack of security.

In addition, the random personal, one-on-one meetings provided plenty of disturbing stories. Two elderly Jewish women from Los Angeles told me over dinner that they had severed relationships with a number of friends and acquaintances, due to their accusations against Israel. One of them told me of her son – a liberal attorney with a routine left-leaning agenda – and how his friends had stopped speaking to him because of the accusations against Israel. The other lady no longer speaks with her 22-year-old grandson, after he provoked her by saying that the very existence of the State of Israel is what led to the establishment and existence of Hamas. And alongside these stories, I also heard the opposite – one female representative attending the conference told me of one of her daughters who was a pro-Palestinian activist and following the October 7 massacre decided to do an about-face in favor of Israel, and another daughter who has become an active advocate for Jews and for Israel.

A former Israeli woman who now lives in Jersey City, shared with me the profound sense of shock that has taken hold of her in recent months. Among others, after she discovered that a teacher at her 10-year-old daughter's school, handed out to the students a Palestinian book that completely erases the existence of the State of Israel, while another boy in her class was parroting pro-Palestinian messages.

Double shock

A key figure who is well connected to the heart of the issue is Dr. Alexandra Herzog, the niece of both Israel's President Herzog and Israel's Ambassador to the US, Michael (Mike) Herzog. She lives in Boston and serves as the AJC's National Deputy Director for Contemporary Jewish Life. Herzog monitors the educational materials at schools and universities in the US and has been seeing the anti-Israel-Zionist connection develop for years.

"The largest problem in the universities," she says, "is that many of the heads of the universities do not assume responsibility and fail to enforce their own rules for protecting the students against antisemitism. But this has gone way beyond protests and demonstrations – there are numerous places where they have not allowed Jewish students to join the student organizations." This sounds all too reminiscent of Vienna and Berlin in the pre-Second World War era. "This modern incarnation of antisemitism is new to many American Jews," says Alexandra, "the US is a country of idealism, and the Jews thought that they would be completely safe here. Now, all of a sudden, they understand that they are not as safe as they were." This is a double shock – it encompasses the threat against Israel, which was always perceived as a potential safe haven, and of course the feeling that the US itself is no longer as safe as they thought it was.

Part of the collapse of this perspective is now being manifested in the profound disappointment from the classic view of the liberal American Jews, that if they encourage education towards pluralism and forge ties with the open democratic circles, and that if in addition they can have an impact on Israel and make it more liberal, and then portray it as such, this would help the Jews in the US and around the world too. As part of this trend, about a year ago the organization sent a delegation to Ramallah, to become acquainted and connect with the Palestinian Authority. It didn't exactly work out, as is known, and as is clear to my interlocutor.

The very same disappointment was also the result of the efforts to forge ties with the large Hispanic community in the US, which encompasses more than 60 million Americans. The person in charge of this effort on behalf of the AJC, is Dina Siegel Vann, a native of Mexico City herself, who now resides in Washington and serves as the Director of the AJC's Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs. Dina invested considerable efforts in linking up with the Hispanic organizations, and even brought a delegation of Hispanic American leaders to visit Israel a year ago, among others, visiting the Gaza border communities. However, all of them disappeared following October 7 – not a single one of them stood beside Israel and the Jews, and their silence is deafening.

"We have changed since October 7," says Dina, "Our expectations have changed. We here at the AJC have always believed in the struggle for all the ethnic minorities, as indirectly this is something that should work for us too, but in hindsight, it now appears that this effort has not really worked at all. We are now shifting gears and revisiting our approach."

Daniel Schwammenthal, the Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute (TAI), the AJC's EU office in Brussels, is no stranger to antisemitism. As regards antisemitism, Daniel has the following to say: "The problem is that a new threat has emerged that goes beyond social media and terrorist threats, against which your government protects you, despite the severity that it entails. Now, as a Jew, you are threatened on the streets, on campus and at work, and antisemitism is being thrust in your face. Then add to this the fact that a number of governments, like the government in Belgium, are engaged in efforts to demonize the Jewish state, thus fanning the flames of antisemitism – and now the whole situation is simply intolerable."

An opening for hope

Born in Germany and now resident in Belgium, Daniel closely monitors the social and political trends in Europe with a sober perspective. He talks of the positive change that has occurred in recent years in Israels relationship with Europe, a marked improvement that simply collapsed several months after the outbreak of war, with a growing negative trend sweeping across European governments and the decisions of the prosecutor and the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in The Hague. In that context, the assessment is that the decline in support for Israel in Europe is the result of the Biden administration's disaffection and positively hostile relations with Israel in recent months. Since the White House began to accuse us of the indiscriminate bombing and killing of the innocent, some of our friends and allies in Europe have fallen in line with it.

However, Daniel believes that overall, the public in Europe is not against us, a claim that has gained support from the results of the elections to the European Parliament held last week, and the ensuing impressive rise in power of the right-wing parties in Europe. That rise in power is a positive sign for the Jews and for Israel, not to mention the reversal of concepts it entails, in which the global left has morphed into our antisemitic enemy, while the right, for the most part, has become the absolute opposite.

This paradox has been clearly reflected, for example, in the staunchly pro-Jewish and pro-Israeli state of Florida, where I flew immediately after the conference in Washington. In that spirit, a female Jewish student from Miami whom I met at the conference in Washington, testified that she has come across nothing in Florida of what has been threatening the majority of Jews in most other locations across the US. This is hardly surprising – as in those states with a palpably dominant support for the Republican Party, especially where strong Republican governors exist, such as Ron DeSantis in Florida, or Greg Abbott in Texas, the situation is completely different.

DeSantis – a sworn supporter of Israel and the Jewish people, crushed the initial appearance of the antisemitic demonstrations at USF (University of South Florida) in the city of Tampa with police officers firing rubber bullets and detaining 130 protesters. Abbott declared the demonstrators at UT-Austin (University of Texas) to be supporters of terrorism and in breach of the law, and he then sent the police to detain them and choke this nefarious protest the moment it began.

How unfortunate it is that precisely the classic approach that the majority of US Jews had opted for historically, with a view to establishing their rights as a minority, the approach of linking up with the democratic left wing, produced the opposite results. How uplifting it is to see that those people who have decided to stand by the Jews and Israel and have now become its champions, the defenders of the values of the enlightened world as a whole, are actually the conservative Republicans.

That dissonance and confusion are all too apparent among many of the people I spoke to; though, the contempt for and fear of Donald Trump in person, makes it difficult to arrive at any conclusions as to the impact on internal-US politics. A poll published by the AJC last week shows that still 61% of the Jews questioned intend to vote for President Joe Biden. This is a considerably lower percentage than those who voted for him in the previous US presidential elections – when 85% of the Jews in the US voted for him, and it is also important to point out that the poll was conducted in March-April, prior to the recent blunt manifestations of duplicity. But it is clear that the penny has yet to drop for many Jews.

There does actually appear to be a considerable degree of openness when it comes to Israel itself. I took part in a panel of Israeli journalists, in which I was the only one who issued a call to stop telling ourselves fairy tales about Palestinian partners and American magic solutions. I explained that the Palestinian national movement, including Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies, seeks to replace us and not stand by our side. The responses from the audience, which for years has been incited by the fake visions of Oslo and the Disengagement Plan, were actually quite supportive. A leader of a flourishing conservative community in Florida who took part in the conference, stopped me and avidly declared: "I agreed with every word you said, we really do need to adopt a different approach and to rethink it."

The new hope

On the way to the flight to the US, I came across a Jewish attorney from New York, who had just returned from a week of volunteer work in the Gaza border communities, and he had just come from a hard day's work painting houses that had been damaged. I met him once again at the conference in Washington and he was completely fired up to play his part in the Jewish-Israeli struggle. At breakfast, I spoke with a young female volunteer from the Bronx, New York, who was actively engaged in pro-Jewish activity, while her brother had just joined up to serve in the IDF that week, aspiring to serve in as elite combat unit as possible. On the conference's main stage, the senior speakers stressed and reiterated: "Now of all times, we are especially proud to be Jews," expressing their unwavering support for the State of Israel and standing by it.

In this spirit, the poll conducted by the organization has established the trend: 57% of the Jews questioned in the poll said that they feel more connected to Israel and their own Jewish identity, 17% said that they had begun to attend synagogue services since the Hamas attack. Just as has been the case in many periods throughout our long history, and one that has constantly been fraught with hardship, it is actually the rise in antisemitism and persecution that has sparked great determination to stand up to it – to reconnect with Jewish roots and the State of Israel.

Avital Leibovich, the Director of the AJC Israel office in Jerusalem, aptly summed up the situation: "There can be no doubts as to the strong desire of the Diaspora Jews for unity, with October 7 marking a new era for them, an era of proximity to the State of Israel coupled with a greatly enhanced sense of their Jewish identity, each individual acting in his or her own way." While the American actor, Michael Rapaport, who also appeared on the central stage, managed to sum up the basic message to all our enemies in a nutshell, with only two words: "Fuck them," duly earning rapturous applause from the crowd.

The post Unsafe haven: How Oct 7 changed the lives of US Jews appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters purported to classify him as a modern-day Winston Churchill of sorts, but history has already cemented his legacy as the Israeli Neville Chamberlain. Like the British prime minister who deluded himself and his nation by concluding the Munich accord, Netanyahu surrendered and led us to where we are now. Netanyahu isn't alone on the stand; together with him are the high-ups of the left-center camp along with most of Israel's defense leadership in the past generation.

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Now, however, Netanyahu has been handed a task that even the original Chamberlain did not have to face – digging us out of the hole that he and his accomplices plunged us into. Chamberlain himself resigned and vacated his post in May 1940, when the Battle of Britain began, but the Britons had Churchill there to lead the epic task that they were facing. Among us, there isn't even a whiff of Churchill in the whole political system; all members of the war cabinet are accomplices in the same conspiracy and spirit that brought on the catastrophe.

The only consolation is that the nation's morale is strong and determined. A clear indication of Chamberlain-ism is the bumbling that surrounds the ground operation, already accompanied by a campaign of sorts that aims to nibble away at the self-evident conclusion about the need to rip Hamas out. Thus we got the conspicuous attention to General Yitzhak Brik's views, thus Netanyahu initiated President Joe Biden's visit, and thus the enemy's trickle of extortionary deals was requited. Thus the ostensible leak, engineered by the most scandalous member of the war cabinet – Aryeh Deri – about the non-performance of the plans to topple Hamas.

There's no doubt that, given its extreme unpreparedness, the system took two weeks or so to get itself organized: to draw up new offensive plans, to issue a set of orders, and to train and equip the units that have been downsized and degraded for years due to the "misconception." And yes, the extensive destruction that the Air Force has wrought thus far matters, too. From now on, however, every day that passes works to our disadvantage. It shatters our international legitimacy and places an enormous burden on our society and economy. With so many people displaced and inducted, it is eroding the public's resolve to go the whole nine yards.

The battle against the tunnels won't be simple; that's for sure. But we have a mighty advantage in military strength, resources, and also the troops' fighting spirit and quality. History abounds with examples of more difficult challenges that were surmounted due to enterprise and the practice of war. Churchill had no ready-made answers to the German blitzkrieg; the IDF at the start of the War of Independence had neither the plans nor the means to contend with the Arab invasion. Overall, the warnings that we've been hearing are reminiscent of the scare campaign that accompanied the run-up to Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, when we were cautioned about the traps awaiting us within the refugee camps – not to speak of the opposition to crossing the Suez Canal in 1973.

We'll know within a few days whether the current leadership will find the ability to start coping with the dramatic situation, namely, if it will give the order to move forward. If not, the senior members of the coalition will have to take the reins from the sole hands of Benjamin Netanyahu. It will have to set up a war team, perhaps including Gallant, Dichter, Edelstein, Kisch, and Barkat; possibly adding people who sized things up correctly, such as Avigdor Liberman and Gideon Saar; and maybe reinforced from outside the Knesset – all of which to lead in a Churchillian spirit, without hesitancy and impotence à la Chamberlain and his crew.

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It rends one's soul to think about those who have been abducted and taken to Gaza. The heart goes out to their families. Who among us wouldn't give a great deal to help these unfortunates – our very flesh and blood? No effort should be spared to release those held forcibly by Hamas, but without repeating the fatal errors of the past. For decades we have been turning those who had been taken captive and gone missing into instruments that allow us to be extorted. By surrendering to the enemy, we have caused many more among us to be murdered and abducted. Worst of all, as proved now – we have put our very existence in danger. Foremost, we must not allow the enemy to use the abductees to weaken our morale, our resilience, our cohesion, and our judgment.

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When the behavior that led us to the current disaster will be analyzed in depth, the comportment of the State of Israel, its leaders, commanders, and elites will be recorded as a pillar of the catastrophe. Succumbing to an enemy who took abductees or prisoners, they lost their senses and encouraged the foe to attack us. The phenomenon isn't new; it crested back in 1985 in the so-called "Jibril deal," in which we felt compelled to release 1,151 terrorists. That was the main precipitant of the First Intifada some two years later. The Israeli leadership, then led by Shimon Peres, yielded to the pressure of the families and to the lobby that backed them. The outcome was strategic: many paid in blood and suffering and all of us paid in dear coin.

The trend gathered strength surrounding the campaign in favor of fleeing from the security zone in Lebanon in May 2000, led by the Four Mothers organization and urged on by radio broadcasters. It was an especially effective campaign, and the elite that brought it on inserted fear and panic into the calculus, wretched in itself, of Ehud Barak, the prime minister at the time. For the timing and the nature of the escape from Lebanon, we paid over and over. Several months after we fled, Yasser Arafat, encouraged by our weakness in the north, launched the Second Intifada. By running away, we also cemented the reputation of Hezbollah and enabled it to draw dramatic conclusions for the future.

For twelve years we've been paying for the results of Benjamin Netanyahu's surrender to the campaign for the release of Gilad Schalit. Scores of Israelis have been murdered as a result of the doings of those freed in the transaction, even before the accursed Sabbath of Shemini Atzeret. And now, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his pack of monsters, released for one soldier only – 1,027 of them – are the forces behind the most murderous and effective onslaught that the State of Israel has ever sustained.

Thus, the damage occasioned by our serial surrendering to enemy extortion has led directly to the murder and wounding of countless Israelis. Worse still, however, it has undermined the foundations of our presence in the Land of Israel. It flows from the spinelessness of the leadership and also from the foolishness and weakness of the elites who mobilized to bend the leaders to their will.

The conclusions should be drawn right now, even though the blood boils and the heart quakes for those in the clutches of the murderous sect that controls Gaza. Every effort should be made to extricate the abductees without repeating the mistake. Pursue military operations without limit but do not let the enemy twist our arms. Let us not hesitate to wipe out Hamas in every way – because beyond the heavy price that we will pay if we submit to extortion, the projection of weakness will weaken us so badly as to place the Zionist enterprise in existential danger.

We need to embrace the abductees' families and treat anything they may do with understanding. No one can hold in judgment those whose dearest ones' lives are hanging in the balance. However, the public and the leadership must display level-headedness, restraint, and sagacity – including the way the families' anguish is covered and given public expression.

There's a thin line between demonstrating empathy and promoting national weakness. This line must not be crossed. Such is the case for our approach and it certainly matters in terms of leadership. It is especially critical, however, where media coverage is concerned. For the first time in decades, the time has come to understand where we went wrong and to do the opposite.

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The relaunch of the newest iteration of the Yamina party will either end in glory or disaster. If it fails, we can expect to continue on the same insane loop we're on. But if it succeeds and even just exceeds the electoral threshold, it will become a kingmaker. It will determine who the next prime minister will be, which coalition will arise, and where we all are headed in the coming years. All of the players in the political arena, from right to left, understand this and aren't exactly happy about it. Therefore they will make every effort to diminish, degrade, and undermine the "Zionist Spirit" party's chances of reaching the Knesset and deciding their fates.

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From this vantage point, the mission for Ayelet Shaked, Yoaz Hendel, and their colleagues won't be an easy one. They are starting at a deficit in the polls, with their adversaries disrespecting and sniping at them, and soon they will be the targets of every denigration and spin their rivals can possibly conjure. This will come from the right, as an extension of the character assassination spearheaded by Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich against Naftali Bennett and his partners. This will come from the left, from those who are aware of the Zionist Spirit party's power to squash their aspirations and plans.

This new party, however, enjoys a significant public tailwind. It has the electoral potential of around 15 mandates, consisting of Yamina and New Hope voters. For the most part, these are people driven by a pure ideology that fits the right-wing camp like a glove. The majority of these voters harbor an aversion to Netanyahu and the cult of personality surrounding him. They haven't forgotten the betrayal of his principles when he was prime minister, and don't forgive the Likud's corruption and underhanded conduct under him. The kippa-wearers among them know why they are looking for a party that doesn't belong to Smotrich and his partners. They recoil at Smotrich's school of Judaism, which is deeply entrenched in the Haredi worldview, not to mention his devious politicking.

Following Gideon Sa'ar's alliance with Benny Gantz, many of his voters erased Sa'ar from their list of potential candidates. The Joint Arab List, whose leader is friends with the Palestinian Authority, doesn't correspond with their worldview, the one that Sa'ar also once espoused. Hence, this voting bloc doesn't have many alternatives. We've already mentioned Gantzl; Lapid is far from their worldview and hasn't exhibited spectacular capabilities as a prime minister. Meretz and Labor are truly on the other end of the spectrum. And Avigdor Lieberman – he isn't seen as a stable ideological figure.

This is why the majority of the voters from this bloc, without the new Zionist Spirit party, feel somewhat orphaned. So much so that they decided that without a Shaked-Hendel list, they simply won't vote. This bloc consists of several mandates that have already been spun around by the machine of lies calling itself "right." These are good people who don't get into the details, and therefore bought the spin of betrayal and Arab alliance.

This is also why the Zionist Spirit party's campaign needs to be focused and effective. Among other things, it has to present the facts, which are simply the opposite: Naftali Bennett was an excellent prime minister, who upheld the interests and positions of the nationalist public in Israel in an exemplary manner; Ayelet Shaked is a tremendous Interior Minister; and above all else, the leftists who accuse her of driving the weak links in the Ra'am, Meretz, and Labor crazy, are right. Indeed, Shaked effectively held the outgoing government's overall line, which was certainly further to the right than the Netanyahu governments; and Yoaz Hendel was also successful as communications minister, who among other things acted prudently by enacting reforms in the "kosher" phones market, which incensed the Haredim; Abir Kara was able, in a very short time, to change at least some of the things holding back the country's creative and entrepreneurial public.

And most importantly, there are also good and talented people in the Likud and Smotrich's party, but the Bennett-Shaked-Hendel trio proved its independence and leadership. This served and expressed their worldview, not the interests of the exalted leader and Haredim.

The giant elephant in the room

Meanwhile, the giant elephant in the room still remains – the question of joining a coalition with the Likud and Netanyahu. We mustn't forget that Yamina under Bennett also didn't exclude this option and even tried making it happen, unsuccessfully. Zionist Spirit needs to move on the same exact trajectory because although Netanyahu should resign from political life, he isn't the gravest danger to the State of Israel. A Palestinian state, for example, is more dangerous. To be sure, building a broad coalition is important because being in Ra'am's hands on one end and in the hands of Smotrich and the Haredim on the other, is not good. It would be a serious mistake to rule out a partnership with Netanyahu outright. Netanyahu, if he becomes dependent on Shaked's party, will have to be stately and seek to build, not destroy, bridges to a partnership. What's more, his political horizon might be limited – until either a plea bargain or conviction, whatever comes first.

We must also bear in mind that the political conditions on the day after the upcoming election will be different from the previous election. This time, there is no option for a coalition dependent on Arab MKs to arise, and Zionist Spirit certainly won't go in that direction. Either way, the key to our future rests in the hands of the party that revamped itself this week. If it makes it to the next Knesset, it will be able to unlock this political maze and free us all.

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Last Saturday, I met with a group of friends who served with me in the army as officers, eons ago. What can I say? The State of Israel and the Jewish people have no finer people than these – all patriots, talented, and decent individuals. The overwhelming majority of them have historically voted center-left, and all had praise for now-former prime minister, Naftali Bennett. They said they never imagined ever being satisfied with a religious prime minister, a former Yesha Council head, who even stuck to his values while in office. Another former comrade noted how the old political debate between the blocs was dead, along with the idea of establishing a Palestinian state. Hence a total consensus was achieved: What we need most is leadership that will lead patriotically, empathetically, and adeptly – characteristics they found in abundance during Bennett's one-year tenure.

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Many people from all walks of life have shared the same impression of Bennett with me. These are mainly people who never voted for Yamina and aren't particular fans of Benjamin Netanyahu. The compliments pile up, despite everyone knowing that Bennett refused to negotiate with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, built just as many homes in Judea and Samaria as any Netanyahu government, prevented the establishment of a US consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem, was particularly assertive against Iran and Hamas, and didn't follow the traditional center-left handbook.

Here we can see that the honest experiment conducted over the past year resulted in surprising, unusual success. The premier, justice minister, interior minister, housing and construction minister, and others, spearheaded policies that correspond with the right-wing worldview while receiving support from voters on the other side of the aisle. This experiment was proof that from the perspective of many voters, there is no other side. It's enough to have a leadership that works on behalf of the entire public in a professional and fair manner, whose elected officials "came to work" rather than sling mud and obfuscate. It was proven that many center-left voters can, under the right circumstances, also live in peace with leaders from the Yamina and New Hope parties, if they trust their leaders.

This experiment is especially revealing because it deflates the artificial dispute that has divided us into imaginary camps for generations. Virtually since the Six-Day War, the line between "left" and "right" has been viewed within the prism of the fate of Judea and Samaria: Whether to give the territory back or not; whether we have a peace partner or not. Each political camp was willing to pay any price to the Haredi parties, while Labor even flirted with the Arab parties, to allow them to tip the scales.

Now, however, we've seen the evidence that the Israeli public itself is far removed from this division and dispute. The bloody enterprises of Oslo and the Gaza disengagement shattered the left's theories about peace, and regardless, the classic set of values pertaining to left and right has become passé.  This was especially apparent during the Netanyahu era, throughout which new right-wing principles were tailored to fit the leader's interests. Thus a new ideological line in the sand was created – between those who love Netanyahu and those who hate him.

The outgoing coalition was the result of a political accident, due to the rotten reputation Netanyahu had built for himself in the eyes of his potential partners. By chance, we were able to discover what otherwise would have been impossible under normal circumstances: That old frames of thought are irrelevant. The historical argument between left and right over the fate of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria no longer exists; it was decided on the ground, aided by the failures of Oslo and the disengagement. Meanwhile, now that our possession of Judea and Samaria is axiomatic and no longer at the core of our divisions, we can also redesign the political map and concentrate all the good actors together.

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It was clear on Monday that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had no other choice but to call for early elections, but despite being dragged into it, he handled the situation with aplomb, which was refreshing.

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Given the mayhem and mud-slinging that usually accompany this process in Israeli politics, in which all red lines are crossed and common decency is made redundant, the fact that Bennett issued the government's death certificate in a respectable manner was both a symbol and a message.

The only real surprise following Monday's announcement was the realization that the coalition actually made it through an entire year. This was a government of conflicting forces, cobbled together on the assumption that its parts would maintain a status quo in favor of the whole – and in favor of restoring normalcy.

Surprisingly, the government was able to do more. It turned out to be more proactive and right-wing than all of former PM Benjamin Netanyahu's governments combined, but its ability to keep its members in check ended months ago, as evident by Yamina MK Idit Silman's decision to gladly surrender to those who maligned her, Meretz MK Ghaida Zoabi and Ra'am MK Mazen Ghnaim's Palestinian angst, and Yamina MK Nir Orbach's political ploys.

This was not a political experiment. There is nothing connecting Meretz and Labor on the one hand and Yamina and New Hope on the other, so this coalition was an experiment in the sense that jumping from the fifth floor of a burning building is an experiment. When there is no other choice, you take a leap that under normal circumstances would make no sense. But lo and behold – contrary to the incitement campaign by Netanyahu and his loyalists, one year later Israel is actually doing better than it did after Operation Guardian of the Walls, which came at the end of Netanyahu's term in office.

This, however, was a short respite and a rude political awakening has landed us back in the real world, where we are facing another round of political warfare.

The challenge here is the votes of the "real" Right – voters who don't follow leaders or rabbis, but rather the ideology. So far, the polls show that Bennett, Ayelet Shaked and New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar have failed to secure these votes. They haven't made their success under impossible circumstances clear enough.

Delivering what was at times an emotional address calling for elections, Bennett still focused on one key message – unity. This has been his mission over the past year, having to hold a motley crew coalition together, but unity makes for a poor election platform.

As for the pro-Netanyahu camp – even if they manage to get the 61 MKs necessary to form a coalition it would be even more unruly than the one about to disband.

Anyone who thinks he has 61 mandates in his pocket could end up right where we are today – dragged behind a leader who refuses to step aside and would rather crush the Right and force all of us into another unnecessary election campaign.

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In early June 1982, when the First Lebanon War erupted, I was a young Artillery Corps officer on the northern border. Very quickly, around a month after I completed the officers' training course, I found myself leading dozens of soldiers into Lebanon, in what was called at the time Operation Peace for Galilee. I spent a year and a half in the Land of the Cedars – from the Ayun Valley to Ain Zhalta, and the hills overlooking Beirut to Lake Qaraoun. I rained countless shells on the enemy; I was showered with candies by the joyous Christians and Druze. I guarded the peace talks between Israel and Lebanon, which resulted in an "Abraham Accord" of sorts.

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In the Chouf Mountains and on the outskirts of Beirut, we sought cover from enemy bullets, unaware of the vicious attacks by the Israeli left against the Begin-Sharon government. We heard rumblings about the treachery of Uri Avneri and his partners, who went to interview Yasser Arafat and essentially strengthened the enemy.

What we did know, contrary to the made-up stories that spread during and after the campaign, was that the army knew very well what the objectives of the war were, way before the first battle ever broke out. I had the so-called Oranim plan with me in my command APC (armored personnel carrier), which outlined the invasion and conquest of Lebanon up to the Beirut-Damascus Highway line. And if every officer on the front lines, myself included, was familiar with the high command's war plans, there's no doubt that it was never concealed from the prime minister.

We all justified the risks we took upon ourselves. We understood the need to stop the Palestinian enemy, who had turned Lebanon into a base for attacking northern Israel. We agreed it was also important to deliver a decisive blow to the Syrians, who controlled Lebanon and orchestrated the attacks against us.

What we couldn't have known at the time was that that war would be the last in which Israel would set and meet a stated strategic military goal; the last war in which Israel was the initiator, striving to annihilate the enemy; a war in which Israel behaved like any normal nation, where leaders instruct their armies to destroy or remove the enemy. As opposed to settling for sending signals, slogging through yet another round of fighting; sending endless messages back and forth. In Operation Peace for Galilee, Israel expelled Yasser Arafat, along with all of his commanders and fighters, all the way to Tunisia. That is until Rabin and Peres came along with the Oslo disaster, which brought the enemy's high command and army into our midst. Although Sharon and Begin failed to change the face of the Middle East, the Christians and Druze failed to deliver the goods they promised and didn't shift Lebanon over to our side. The war's ultimate objective, however, was fully achieved.

Since then, all of Israel's military operations have stemmed from being provoked, mistakes, and distress. None of them, other than Operation Defensive Shield during the Second Intifada, accomplished any goals. The Second Lebanon War, which was managed with criminal irresponsibility, to all the operations on the outskirts of Gaza – all of which lacked decisive force and an objective beyond yet another, short-lived and fake period of peace and quiet. This is only an expression of diplomatic confusion and cowardice. It's not that the State of Israel lacks the power, goals, and vision, and it's not as if it doesn't have the people necessary for such things. What it hasn't had this whole time is leadership.

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