News consumers are being led to believe the upcoming election is between "anyone-but-Netanyahu" and "Netanyahu- Getting Back to Life." But this election is not about security, peace, foreign policy, health, or the economy. Anyone who hasn't been brainwashed or whose thoughts haven't been engineered understands that the Netanyahu-led right-wing government has been a phenomenal success in all these areas.
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The issue this time is that Israel is one of the first countries in the world, if not the very first, to leave the coronavirus pandemic behind. This tremendous success is even more impressive considering the other candidates who incessantly disparaged the vaccines and their impact on defeating the pandemic.
We can also add the peace agreements with Arab countries, those already signed and those on the verge of fruition. The Israeli economy displayed notable strength in coping with the effects of the pandemic. Because the other candidates have no interest in contending with these achievements, they have chosen to wave an imbecilic slogan – one that has fanned the flames of hatred within Israeli society to a concerning degree.
The most fundamental issue currently at hand is Israel's character over the next 30 years. Basic questions will be answered: Is Israel the national home of the Jewish people, or a country of all its citizens? Is Israel a Jewish state, the realization of a vision spanning thousands of years, or just another country on the Mediterranean Sea? What will Israeli students learn; will they be told that "Operation Danny" occurred during the War of Independence, or that it's a campaign to sell pudding? And will the "binding of Isaac" in the Book of Genesis refer to one of the nations' forefathers, or to someone else?
Ever since the first election, immediately following Israel's inception, Israeli society hasn't had to answer questions pertaining to the roots of its essence. The argument that escalated over the nation-state law highlighted the intensity of the confusion, doubt and pondering over the essence of our existence and foothold in the land of our forefathers. The upcoming election should provide the answer.
The Right has one overriding vision of a Jewish, Zionist, democratic state in the spirit of the prophets of Israel, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Within the anti-Netanyahu group are those who, with the support of the judicial system, media, academia and culture, want to separate the state from its Judaism and wave the flag of a new Israeliness rooted in the clouds rather than the land. They want a country that essentially exists in the triangle area between Habima Square, Rabin Square and Knesset Square in Tel Aviv.
Because this election is about the roots of our existence in our homeland, I expect Naftali Bennett (I no longer expect anything from Gideon Sa'ar) to pause his personal ambitions, whose time will come, and publicly announce that due to the issues at stake he will only join a right-wing government and won't finagle a rotation deal with the left-wing parties. These parties, in order to topple Netanyahu, will bow to the Joint Arab List, write the script that destroys the memory of Isaac, and help the International Criminal Court in its crusade against the soldiers of the IDF.
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