P6 Amcha Yisrael – should you vote?

Final thoughts before the vote

As I write, things are really heating up. On the eve of the election, the pressure on Ofer Winter has ramped up considerably. At the time of writing, Smotrich is offering him ministry positions that would seemingly cover the Haredi enlistment and Gaza emigration planks of Ofer’s platform. Ofer has said he’d accept being kept out of the Knesset: if the public doesn’t want what he’s offering, he’ll thank them and accept it. I would like to see him stand his moral high ground here.

I want to highlight a few points in this final post.

Ofer’s advice

At his parlour meeting, Ofer was very clear that he had not come to bring down the right or abandon the right-wing camp. He has staked his campaign on a promise to sit only with Bibi, in a right-wing government. On the night, he told the audience that those who are comfortable voting for Smotrich, Ben Gvir or Bibi should carry on doing so. His party, he said, is offering something different. For those who can’t vote for any of the above, for whatever reason (myself included), Amcha Yisrael offers a home. Not without its contradictions, but a genuine attempt at something new.

Wasted votes

There is a lot of worry about wasted votes. In Israel, a vote for a party that fails to cross the 3.25% threshold is effectively lost, and that strengthens the bigger parties. If those lost votes came from the right, the centre-left’s share grows, and vice versa. The polls really are all over the place on Amcha Yisrael. Most recent polls have Amcha Yisrael just under the threshold, at around 2.8–3.1%, though Channel 13 and Maariv still give it four or five seats. I think that Gantz pulling out may help and also there are still large numbers of undecided votes not reflected in polls.

Any small party starting out, especially a one-man band, will in all likelihood find itself in the same statistical no man’s land as Amcha Yisrael. The same is true of the Miluimnikim. Yes, parties sometimes fall below the threshold, as Naftali Bennett did in April 2019. But they get back up and fight another day. There is no shame in that.

We live in an instant world where we expect to win straight away and be Prime Minister tomorrow. Sometimes we just have to be patient. Ultimately, each of us has one vote, and it plays a very small part in the fate of this country. But it should be a vote you can live with. Leave the rest to God.

Change

Many people are hoping for change; some are desperate for it. Unfortunately, looking at the Knesset, its candidates and its parties, change has yet to reveal itself in our political system. Even those who weren’t in charge on October 7th were in some way complicit in the conceptzia that took hold in the decades before it. So looking to Gadi Eisenkot, Lieberman or others for hope gives me little comfort.

We need to see the younger generation. We need to see our reservists. We need people who approach our challenges with fresh eyes and idealism. Sadly, this is not yet the election where change breaks through. That is my biggest surprise since October 7th: how did we end up right back in the same place? I can’t guarantee that Amcha Yisrael will deliver on all its promises, but I do know that of the current lists, it represents change.

Thank you to all my readers and commenters. If you got this far, well done. Go and vote! The election is on Tuesday October 27.

Praying for Israel and for the Jewish people. May God make our leaders worthy, and may He bring peace to Amcha Yisrael. Amen.