Bibi’s Dangerous Dance of Extremes

‘Those that are in extremity are abominable fellows’
-Rosalind, Shakespeare’s As You Like It

How did we get back to the Summer of 2023? Divisions that we all believed – we swore! – after October 7th would not return?

But it’s September 2024, and the Prime Minister again likens his political enemies to our worst enemies. They include those he sent to war, whose kids he sent to war, some of whom are now sitting shiva. Saying the demonstrators support Hamas and Sinwar – a grotesque equivalence – is Bibi’s classic playbook – to turn the country against itself, so he can win another election.

The Prime Minister sometimes gives the impression that he barely tolerates the rogue radicals in his government – Bezalel Smotrich, guided by the teachings of his far-right mentor Dov Lior, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, a Jewish Steve Bannon: ‘let’s blow things up and see what happens.’

The Prime Minister and the National Security Minister – BFFs?

Sure, Bibi needs them for his political survival – always his priority. But he wants their extremist messaging as well. Bibi knows that his right-wing extremists and left counterparts love their co-dependent dance. Especially since they give the impression, as they dance and dance, that there are no other songs in the repertoire. They are secretly in love, the extremists: they need each other.

The media cooperates: the far right radicalizes the far left. Channel 14 repeatedly runs clips of the 3 Communist Flags at an anti-government demonstration; Channel 12 shows clips of Ben Gvir strutting on the Temple Mount time and again.

This is Bibi’s preferred combat zone – where he wins election after election. If the choice is between left and right extremists, in Israel today, the Right always win.

This is why Bibi addresses his supporters, not the country, why he demonizes almost half the electorate, why his Justice Minister Yariv Levin is planning to re-introduce the Judicial Reform Laws that nearly ripped our country apart last summer.

No coincidence.

That we are back to that same treacherous reality of September 2023 is tragic, and dangerous, and part of an explicit political strategy. Turn the extremes into the only options. Make any other perspectives – of nuance, ambivalence, and complexity – seem naive or impossible.

We must find leaders that understand that Bibi will not be outflanked by the Left, but only defeated by the Center. Not just by centrist policies, but by politicians who recognize that our diversity is our strength.

The future of Israel depends on moving away from extremes and forming coalitions that genuinely reflect the diversity of our society—not just in words, but in actions.

We need a leader who understands that diversity is not a threat to unity, but the very basis of it. A leader who can unite the different voices of Israel, not to perpetuate division, but to build a shared Jewish future for a democratic Israel.