Israeli parliamentary elections: Just not Benjamin Netanyahu again

It looks like there is a change in Israel, but nothing is certain yet. Benjamin Netanyahu was in charge in Jerusalem for a total of 18 long years, spread over three terms in office. A man who has to stand trial for corruption, who agitates against minorities and systematically works to bring down democracy, who is not above calling right-wing nationalist racists into his coalition, and who is partly responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust as well as the deaths of over 70,000 Palestinians.

It's unbelievable that after all this disaster he still has a chance of winning the elections. The reason for this is bitterness and frustration that began in the 1950s. The reason is a historical reckoning or better: revenge. But for what? The underdogs looking for revenge are the hundreds of thousands of Jews from Muslim countries, especially from North Africa, the Mizrahim, who came to Israel 70 years ago.

Their enthusiastic Zionism was linked to the centuries-long religious longing for Zion. The Zionism of the Ashkenazis, who came from Eastern Europe and who made up the majority of Israel's Jewish population at the time, was completely different. The Ashkenazi came from the Orthodox shtetls in Poland and Ukraine and wanted to break away from the old traditions. They founded socialist youth movements. They equated religion with life in exile, with passivity and weakness.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is discussed controversially, especially in left-wing circles. There are also some fundamentally different positions on this in the taz. In this section you will find all comments and debate contributions on the topic of the Middle East.

In the eyes of the Ashkenazi, Jews from Morocco, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Tunisia were primitive. While the Jews from Europe settled comfortably in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, the Olim Chadashim - the new immigrants - from Muslim countries were accommodated in remote villages and small towns. Their children had to attend secular schools, which alienated them from their parents' generation, which felt rejected and passed this insult on to the next generation and the next to the next.

The turning point for the Mizrahim came after the Yom Kippur War and - given the heavy losses - the accusation against the Ashkenazi leadership of having failed terribly. Menachem Begin, the leader of the right-wing Likud party, himself not Orthodox but a supporter of conservative religious values, managed to win over the Mizrahim. The Russian-born Ashkenazi addressed the Mizrahim as “my brothers” and promised a return to the Jewish tradition that had been stolen from them by the hated Ashkenazi establishment.

Since then, the Likud has been in power almost continuously, although the office of head of government has always remained in the hands of an Ashkenazi to this day. Yitzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon and Netanyahu themselves or their parents immigrated from Europe, but that does not change the fact that for large sections of Likud voters they represent the disadvantaged, angry minority. Like no other, Netanyahu knows how to take advantage of the frustration of the Mizrahim.

In fact, his government is a coalition of new elites: the ultra-Orthodox, who formed a very small minority until the 1980s, and the national religious, who radically advance their messianic ideology, the practical expression of which is the settlement project in the West Bank and the oppression of the Palestinian population there. Over the past decades, these extremists have steadily gained influence and are now a central force in politics, the media, education and, above all, the army.

The comparatively moderates among them were pushed out. Today, radical, xenophobic and racist forces set the tone. The poison that these people inject is spreading through the already fragile body of Israeli society, and the liberal antibodies are rapidly weakening. The upcoming elections could act as an antibiotic. Many in the liberal public view it as a last chance, a desperate battle to “be or not be.”

Liberal Israel - or what's left of it - is up against the age-old frustration of Jews from Muslim countries, against the ideological resolve of religious settlers, against the demographic reality of a rapidly growing ultra-Orthodox population, against the ongoing trend of religiosity and nationalism, but above all against a prime minister who is using all these processes to his advantage with impressive efficiency.

After the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, it initially seemed as if the current government had suffered a blow from which it would not recover. Meanwhile, Netanyahu managed the impossible again and the coalition held for the entire four years. He knew how to keep the frustrated and his allies in the coalition, the extremist national religious groups and the ultra-Orthodox, who watched the atrocities of October 7th almost apathetically from the sidelines, in line.

Netanyahu waged an immoral war in Gaza and a rather unnecessary war in Lebanon and Iran, isolating Israel in the world, perfecting internal divisions and poisoning the discourse. Israeli society goes into these elections defeated and polarized. The right-wing media stirs up conspiracy theories, spreads racism and uninhibited joy over destruction and death. Mainstream media is also increasingly drifting to the right.

teaches Jewish thought at Sapir College in Sderot and is the author of many non-fiction books and novels. He lives mostly in Berlin and bought an expensive plane ticket specifically to take part in the parliamentary elections.

The parties of the so-called Bloc of Change – parties of the center, the secular right, the comparatively moderate right and remnants of the Labor Party, coupled with the left-wing Meretz – are struggling to formulate a clear ideological alternative. And they are afraid of alienating right-wing voters who might vote for the center this time.

After October 7th, the country's liberal public was seething with anger. Netanyahu, for his part, blamed the “treacherous left” for the growing international isolation. An age-old trick of dictators that he always resorts to is fomenting hatred against the minority: the Arab citizens of Israel. Israelis, especially the young among them, graduates of education systems that were dominated for decades by religious and nationalist forces, are increasingly prone to generalizations.

The massacre is not perceived as something carried out by Hamas alone, but by “Arabs.” It is true that Hamas is very popular among Palestinians in the West Bank, but the situation is very different among Arab citizens of Israel. Netanyahu's toxic rhetoric has led to leaders of opposition parties saying they would not sit in a government with Arabs. This attitude is not only racist, but very unwise, as it could mean that they will not be able to form a governing majority after the elections.

The Arab parties, on the other hand, are stuttering. The post-October 7 reality has pushed them into a corner. Any expression of solidarity with the residents of Gaza, for example, appears to be a betrayal in the minefield of current Israeli rhetoric. Turnout in previous elections has been very low in the Arab sector. Even if voter turnout among the state's Palestinian citizens is higher this time, the anti-Netanyahu bloc could only benefit by inviting minority parties to cooperate.

The left, exhausted by lost battles, is running for the elections with the last of its strength. Numerous liberals have left the country. Now they are paying exorbitant prices for plane tickets to take part in the elections. Estimates speak of 150,000 Israelis who come specifically from abroad, quite a few of them from Germany. In the overall calculation, this is not a very significant number. The demographic trends consistently work against the liberal public. The sad truth is that conservative populations are growing much faster.

The legendary PLO leader Yasser Arafat said at the time that the Palestinian womb would defeat Zionism. The ultra-Orthodox argue similarly from their perspective. The Israeli left is currently moving between two contradictory moods: On the one hand, there is the feeling that this is the last battle, the last opportunity to “take back the state” and that we must mobilize with all our might to achieve this.

Authors of pessimistic articles are rebuked by angry analysts who call for optimism and fighting spirit, for closing ranks and fortitude. On the other hand, a defeatism is spreading in the ranks of the left: the recognition of an inevitable defeat. Even if we win these elections, we have no chance in the long run.

The demographics are working against us, the damage is too great, the ignorance, nationalism and dark religiosity that have been solidified here in 50 years of right-wing rule are final. The combination of decades of right-wing, cynical rule, driven by a thirst for revenge and feelings of inferiority, with the shock effect of October 7th has left scorched earth in its wake.

But a few days ago, a few hundred Israelis sang the “Song for Peace” at a festival in the Negev, which was written in 1970, at a time when there was still great euphoria about the conquest of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The song became the anthem of a peace-loving Israel. After October 7th, it seemed impossible that people would even accept this text with the appeal to sing “not about wars, but about love”. But that's exactly what they did. “The day will come,” it continues. Who would want to contradict that?