Not Just a Vote Against: What a Zionist Government Must Stand For

Elections are not won only by voting against. They are won by voting for something. Tomorrow, Israelis should vote against the worst coalition in our history, but also for a Zionist vision that its alternative still needs to define.

Last year Netanyahu told us he had won a historic victory “that will stand for generations,” removing the existential threats of Iranian nuclear bombs and missiles. Yesterday he posted an image of an atomic bomb over Tel Aviv and told us the threat is existential and imminent. Both cannot be true. Either he misled us then, or he is frightening us now, as if Eisenkot, Bennett, Liberman or Golan would simply ignore the Iranian threat. Perhaps they would do something different: tell the Israeli public the truth about the threats we face and our realistic position.

In the last few days, Netanyahu has also accepted that we may be heading for unprecedented international sanctions, possibly even from the United States. His answer is not a diplomatic strategy to rebuild our relationships with our allies. It is crypto. It may be the most foolish or derelict idea I have heard from him. The Bank of Israel along with a long list of economists and even the head of Israel’s crypto forum, have already said plainly that it won’t work. As I argued last week, under this government the buck stops nowhere.

I don’t think Netanyahu can recover from this position, which brings me to the next point. With Ben Gvir and Smotrich, our international standing will keep nosediving. But without them, Netanyahu has no political future. I have been warning about this alliance since Kahanism returned to the Knesset on Netanyahu’s watch.

And then there is the final point. At UTJ’s election rally, with senior rabbis present, the crowd sang with all its heart “בשלטון הכופרים אין אנו מאמינים” (“we do not believe in the rule of the heretics”). That is an anti-Zionist anthem, the language of Satmar and the Eida Haredit. Without these partners, Netanyahu has no power.

So this election is not mainly about Netanyahu, although there are plenty of reasons to vote against him. It is about the extreme, sometimes racist, and openly anti-Zionist partners he can no longer live without.

Eisenkot, Bennett, Liberman and Golan have set out the broad ideas for a strong Zionist coalition. But they have not gone nearly far enough in defining a vision beyond fixing this government’s terrible mistakes. If they form the next government, they must.

Underpinning all of this must be the restoration of accountability, the core strand of public life lost in the Netanyahu years. Ministers who fail must take responsibility. Leaders who make promises to the public must be held to them. And the institutions that hold power to account, from the State Comptroller to the courts to a free press, must be strengthened, not attacked. The first decision of a new government should be to establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7. It is not a vision in itself, but without it nothing else in the vision is credible.

The restoration of the Otef and the North must be the number one Zionist priority. These communities bore the brunt of October 7 and the years of war that followed. Restoring them is not a line item in a budget. It is Zionism in its most practical form: rebuilding homes, schools, jobs and infrastructure, and giving young families a reason to return and new families a reason to come. A government that lets the Otef and the North wait has lost the plot of the Zionist story. Alongside this is the need to overhaul the national approach to trauma and mental health in general. This flows directly from the outcome of the Hamas attacks and the ongoing wars.

Second, a military and diplomatic strategy that gives an end point, or at least a horizon, to the Gaza, Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian fronts. This is not about surrender or weakness. It is about turning temporary military gains into long-term strategic gains. It means broadening and deepening our regional alliances and rebuilding a working relationship with our Western allies. These goals do not clash. They complement each other.

Third, there is no way around the Palestinian question. There are no simple answers, and security must lead, but security alone cannot solve our problems. The Smotrich doctrine that has driven this government is leading us down a dark alley. Alongside its strategic gains in Area C, it is closing off any future possibility of accommodation with the Palestinians. One by-product is an explosion of violence and terror aimed at driving Palestinians off the land. It is a moral stain and a diplomatic catastrophe, and it must be stopped. I have traced the theology behind the politics in Fathom. Here too Netanyahu has failed completely, by refusing to rein in the extremists in his coalition. That extremism has now seeped into Likud itself and threatens its standing as the liberal democratic party it once was.

Fourth, a genuine partnership with Israel’s Arab citizens. First and foremost, that means crime. The wave of murder and organised crime in Arab towns is a national emergency, and this government has met it with slogans and policies that will fuel crime, not fight it. Second, it means land and planning reform, so that Arab citizens can build legally on their own land, and confronting the corruption that lets criminal organisations capture local authorities and their budgets. A Jewish and democratic state cannot thrive while a fifth of its citizens live without basic personal security. As I have argued before, taking our shared life with Arab citizens seriously is itself a Zionist task.

Fifth, we need long-term change in the state’s relationship with the Haredi community, unlocking its immense potential for economic, national security and cultural gain. Until now the system has failed by empowering a Haredi leadership whose sole mission is to protect total autonomy over education and exemption from any share in national security. Moti Leitner and his brave band of activists-turned-politicians have shown what a different future could look like. A new government must work with them, not try to crush them. Haredim are responsible for their own choices, and partnership must come before any financial or economic benefits are restored. Last night the current leadership proudly showed its true anti-Zionist colours. It cannot be our partner in shaping the future. I explored this tension between integration and separatism in Fathom.

Choose Eisenkot, Bennett, Liberman or Golan for a Zionist-led government.

Choose Netanyahu, Smotrich or Ben Gvir for more of the same: wars that never end, permanent conflict with the Palestinians, deepening global isolation that hurts both our economy and our security, and a growing deficit of democratic values as this coalition, the worst Netanyahu has ever led, lurches further toward blood-and-soil politics.