"The end of an era" is a phrase we often hear in the media to describe the challenging times we are going through.
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Indeed, we have witnessed several such ends in recent days. While some are real, like the completion of the 12-year-long tenure of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, others never existed in the first place, like disunity, division and lack of statehood.
Yet, there is one "end of an era" that gets almost no attention in the media. Gone are the days when the voter's voice mattered. The arrival of the new government and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made sure of that.
The voters are the same people who took the time to get to the voting booths believing that their actions matter, the same public who is meant to have a say in the shaping of the country. The voter has become the means, not the end. Bennett has robbed the concept of all meaning through actions he himself described as undemocratic.
Unfortunately, he was not the first politician to go back on his election campaign promises. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin pledged to protect the Golan Heights, only to withdraw from the area completely. Netanyahu vowed to end Hamas, which he, obviously, hasn't. False promises were made by Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Shamir, and the list goes on.
Nevertheless, there is a stark difference between these leaders and Bennett, for they had a vast number of supporters and voters and paid dearly when they betrayed those who placed their trust in them. In contrast, Bennett is not paying any price. His voters are.
In 2013, when Uri Orbach congratulated Bennett on entering the Knesset, he expressed hope that Religious Zionism would become the bridge to connect all spheres in Israel, not one they would trample on.
Eight years later, Religious Zionism has, in fact, become a bridge, one that is trampled on in order to get to the prime minister's office.
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