Don’t Fear to Attempt the Impossible
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” – William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
“One has to try the impossible to reach the possible.” – Herman Hesse
After they did not manage to get the election result which they had wanted so much (and which the less realistic among us may have expected), the easiest thing to do for the four ‘Jewish opposition’ parties would be to believe they lost and then to either run directly for the opposition benches or crawl into the arms of the master manipulator, who will offer them some sort of rotation agreement that he will break at the first opportunity. If such an opportunity does not offer itself, he will create it, as anybody who is familiar with Israeli politics of the last three decades knows.
Netanyahu did not win
When we look at the final results of the elections of 27 October 2026, the conclusion is that yes, Netanyahu leads the largest party, and he managed to keep his losses limited, but he still lost, quite a bit. Until election day, he had an absolute majority of 68, and now he leads a minority of only 53 MKs, 14 of whom are anti-Zionist or at least represent a population that largely shirks its national responsibilities by evading the military draft and relying on government handouts. His own party lost nine seats, two of his coalition partners (neither of whom even Donald Trump would like to see remain in power) swapped a seat, one kept its seats, and one lost five out of its previous eleven seats. The big winners are Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar (21 out of nothing), the Demokrátiem, who doubled their number of seats to eight, and yes, the two Arab parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, who almost doubled their number of representatives, to 19 MKs. We can see that Netanyahu realized that he lost, big time, by looking at his panic-attack against the Arab parties, on and right after election day, an offensive which already four days before the elections Daphna Liel predicted would be launched if Netanyahu didn’t win. She, not unlike many of us, appears to know him better than most of his own fans and minions. He realizes that his opponents have 67 seats, a clear majority.
Parties’ names should have meaning
Most of the current coalition parties do not exactly act according to their parties’ names. Under Binyamin Netanyahu’s ‘leadership’, the Likud (‘unification, consolidation’) has caused nothing but damage and polarization. Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (‘Jewish strength’) is made up of racists and bullies, and you don’t have to be Freud to understand that racist and bullying behavior is often driven by some psychological overcompensation for feelings of weakness and insecurity. Under Smotrich, Religious Zionism focuses exclusively on the settlements and neglects Israel itself, putting the legacy of men like Yosef Burg and Zevulun Hammer to shame. What the ‘hilltop youth’ and other extremist exponents of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s ideology do in the West Bank is antithetical to what – at least in the eyes of the vast majority of Jews, as far as I am aware – the Jewish religion stands for. Something similar goes for the Guardians of Sfarad (Shas) and United Torah Judaism. It is with good reason that Adina Bar-Shalom, a social and educational activist and daughter of Shas’ founder rabbi Ovadia Yosef z”l, denounces Aryeh Deri and other current Shas leaders for having squandered the original social and politically moderate and pragmatic character of the party. The insistence of that party and of its Ashkenazi counterpart (UTJ) to keep all ‘their’ young men out of the army, and to have them remain dependent on government welfare, goes against the Judaism of sages like Maimonides, rabbi Akiva, and Rashi, who – besides being outstanding scholars – provided for their families by working as a doctor, shepherd and vintner, respectively.
The solution to the impasse which the election results have caused is very simple, if only all six opposition parties (all but one of which won between 1 and 21 seats) decide to do what their names suggest. First of all, though Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennet’s party lost half of the seats of Lapid’s pre-election Yesh Atid, its name (BeYachad) points us to the only (and the most Zionist) way forward: together. When I look up the meaning of the name of the newest party elected in the 26th Knesset, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, Morfix gives me the following translations: straight, honest, honorable, law-abiding, decent. We all know what would be the decent and straightforward thing for Eisenkot to do. In spite of Avigdor Lieberman’s constant insistence that he will never join a government with either Netanyahu or any Arab party, the name of his own list, Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home), seems to cater to more than only Jews. The Demokrátiem, led by Yair Golan, appears to be the only of the four largely Jewish opposition parties that put its money where its mouth is, which is one of the reasons why I became a member of that party. Even before the elections, only they did not rule out cooperating with either of the two Arab parties, which – because of the racism which too often plays a central life in Israel(i politics), unfortunately – probably cost them one or more seats. The names of both Arab parties that participated in the elections and won 19 seats between them talk – not unlike Likud and BeYachad – about togetherness: the United Arab List (Ra’am), led by Mansour Abbas, and the Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen. They have already expressed willingness to help form a governing coalition, or at least to support an Eisenkot-led government ‘from the outside’.
Rowing the boat together
True, the Arab parties are not Zionist. But why would they? Who seriously expects them to be? If Jews who were not born here can make Israel their home without being Zionist, why do we demand from Arabs whose families have lived in the Land of Israel longer than many of our own families to perform this unreasonable and impossible limbo dance ritual? Whether we Israelis – Jewish, Arab, or otherwise – like it or not, we are all in the same boat, so we should row that boat together. As long as they follow the law and contribute to society, there is no reason for the citizenship of Israel’s Arabs to be made conditional, and for their votes and voices to not be counted. They haven’t used violence or even raised their voices to protest at the discrimination and indifference which Netanyahu and his coalition(s) aimed at them. Now they massively used their votes, the main tool which a democracy has to offer its citizens to make their voices heard and to demand what is rightfully theirs.
Let’s not forget that thousands of Jews voted for ‘Arab parties’ and vice versa, but for simplicity’s sake in this article I label Yashar, Beyachad, the Demokratim and Yisrael Beitenu as the four Jewish opposition parties, and Ra’am and the Joint List as the Arab opposition parties. 19 Knesset seats out of 120 are too few to be a threat to Israel as a Jewish state, but they are way too many to be ignored if we want that Jewish state to be a democracy. See article 21 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and remember: human rights are inalienable. In addition, by – at long last – giving our Arab neighbors the opportunity to help shape our future not only in society but also in the parliament and government which belong to all of us, this country will prove all haters of Israel and of Jews wrong, once and for all.
Nobody expects Ahmad Tibi to become our next Minister of Defense, or Mansour Abbas to replace Itamar Ben-Gvir as Minister of National Security, though appointing one of the Arab MKs as a deputy minister in that ministry to help the authorities fight crime in the Arab communities could benefit all of us. I also don’t think any of the Arab MKs is suitable for or interested in the post of (deputy) minister of Aliyah and Integration, Diaspora Affairs, or (Jewish) Heritage. By the way, the latter ministry is one of several that should be abolished altogether, because they are a waste of money, space and energy. But both Ra’am and the Joint List have excellent candidates (all of whom are highly educated) who could serve as (deputy) ministers of health, housing, science, social affairs and more. I’m willing to bet that each and every one of them will do a much better job than any of the members of the (hopefully) outgoing government.
Only Netanyahu can afford another round of elections
Binyamin Netanyahu knows better than Eisenkot, Lapid, Bennett, Golan and Lieberman that he lost the elections. The problem, as those five men see it, is that their four lists together did not win a 100% ‘Jewish majority’. If those five party leaders find the courage and wisdom to build a governing coalition with the two Arab parties, they can turn that problem into an opportunity. It is what true leaders would do, I couldn’t think of anything more Zionist and patriotic than that. It would strengthen Israel – as a democracy, a home for all its citizens and a homeland for all Jews – in the short and the long term, and it would save us from a new round of elections. Only Bibi wants and can afford another round. His voters are not going anywhere, and they will show up and vote again whenever he tells them to, in stark contrast with the Israelis who flew here to keep him from another absolute majority, and unlike those of us who are fed up with elections that always seem to end up keeping Bibi in power. Netanyahu can afford anything, as long as he himself or his loved ones are not the ones who pay the price. Bibi and the current government thrive on chaos and division, and the man cannot be trusted to honor agreements signed by any government of ‘national unity’.
A government of true national unity
If we want a true government of national unity, rather than yet another doomed government of nationalist division, a coalition with the representatives of Yashar, Beyachad, the Demokrátiem, Yisrael Beiteny, Ra’am and the Joint List is the only way to go. Such a government will be able to deal with the many problems that we face: finding ways towards a more just and equal division of burdens (including, I recommend, social or military service for all); improving Israel’s standing in the world and building bridges to pragmatic Arab countries; investing in overall security, education, housing, infrastructures, all over the country but particularly in areas in the north and south that have been widely overlooked under government after government under Netanyahu; providing young Israelis, Arabs and Jews, with reasons and incentives to stay here and make their homes in their country of birth, rather than causing them to try their luck elsewhere. ‘The common good’ must be the main focus of this new government. Besides our mere humanity, there is nothing that Jews and Arabs, and we Jews among ourselves, share more than that common good.
None of the current opposition parties, Jewish or Arab, can beat Netanyahu on his turf and at his favorite games (fear-mongering, stirring up hatred, divide and conquer). There are two things a government of true national unity will give us that no government that includes extreme religious and nationalist parties could ever offer: hope, and a vision of a better future for (the children and grandchildren of) all of us. To use a Hanukkah-related metaphor: only light can chase away the darkness. Or to combine and paraphrase the two quotes, by Herman Hesse and William Shakespeare, that I started this article with: “Let’s stop being afraid and start attempting to finally do what is definitely possible.” It’s the most, or maybe even only, Zionist and Israeli thing to do.