1.
Everyone called on Naftali Bennett this week to learn lessons. Not to repeat the mistakes of the last election campaign. This is very true, of course, and very important, but are we, the ordinary citizens, also taking stock?
It seems to me that the elections that were forced upon us all could be an opportunity for correction. Not only for the Knesset and the Supreme Court, but first and foremost for us, personally.
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And I will explain and demonstrate and even confess my weaknesses.
An election campaign has just ended. I look back on the months leading up to it. How much time did I waste listening to, watching, or reading about election matters: from the dissolution of the Knesset, yes or no, through the looming dates for the elections, long weeks of reports on possible unifications and possible divisions, the debates in the Elections Committee, the disqualification of Ben Ari in the High Court of Justice, polls and poll analyses before the lists were closed, the lists were closed, polls and poll analyses after the lists were closed, election propaganda videos, interviews with politicians, recent polls on the eve of Election Day, coverage of Election Day, rumors about the exit poll results, exit poll results, assessments following the exit poll results, Gantz's speech, Bibi's speech, the results of the truth, the counting of the soldiers' votes and the double envelopes, the publication of the final-final results.
And of course it really doesn't end there. It's just beginning.
Long weeks of interpretations, assessments and speculation, coverage of the coalition negotiations and faction representatives in the President's Office, the demands of the parties and the division of portfolios, the tensions with Lieberman. In the middle, also the very solemn Knesset swearing-in with the families of the new MKs.
Then, last Wednesday, at midnight, it all suddenly ended. The Knesset dissolved, we were going to the elections, and we started our song from the beginning.
2.
So now, just before we move on, I want to stop, draw lessons, and try to check: How much of all the time I devoted to the election was in vain? How much of the tremendous information I consumed was even true? How many of the political interpretations and predictions actually came true? I think almost nothing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling for abstinence from political reporting here. There's clearly a certain pleasure in talking about politics. And in general, it's clear that the Knesset elections are very important. Look, look at what a few missing votes caused here. Imagine if Bennett hadn't taken this hasty step? Imagine if Feiglin's voters had thought for a moment before voting? The State of Israel would be in a completely different situation today.
But that is not the issue that is at the center of my soul-searching. Right now, as I said, I am not dealing with elected officials, but with the public. Our children. And the lesson I take from the election campaign that ended and the one that began, to our regret and astonishment, is to treat political commentators like entertainers.
I mean, if this entertainment makes me feel good, if this show entertains me, if it inspires me, then why not, by all means. But understand that this is the genre, this is the type.
And from this everything is derived: Do I want to repeat the mistakes of the previous election campaign and receive updates and pop-ups about entertainment on my mobile phone every few hours, or do I draw lessons for the next election? Is it worth it for me to waste the daily moments of grace of sending the children to school in the morning listening to entertainment and not to them, or will I not repeat the mistakes of the past in the current campaign?
And in general, how many hours of my life do I decide to devote to entertainment (sometimes even cheap entertainment)? Dozens? Hundreds? It's worth thinking about it now, when the campaign is underway and we all remember well the failures of the campaign that ended.
3.
And here's a little story from the period before the lessons were learned. It was before the Knesset was dissolved. Right in those fateful 48 hours when all the representatives of the coalition parties attacked Lieberman for wanting to settle a personal score with the prime minister. The radio was on at full volume, so that God forbid I would miss a single word, and the MKs were ranting about Lieberman. Then, at some point, the child in the back seat asked: "Dad, does Lieberman hear everything they say about him on the radio? Because if so, how come he doesn't give up?""
I didn't really know what to answer him. I mean, I knew, but I didn't want to expose his soft soul to such a dirty world of values, where you fight cynically and drag an entire country into a waste of millions of shekels, into instability and such humiliation in its own eyes and in the eyes of the world - and all of this not for the sake of a particular ideology or path, but simply to demonstrate power, to take revenge.
And even more so, I didn't know how to explain to him how, after the dissolution of the Knesset, Lieberman transformed from an opportunist, forceful, populist, corrupt, racist - into the savior of Israel who acted responsibly and prevented the formation of a government. The man who for years had been the object of hatred and criticism from journalists became overnight a kind of Nechama Rivlin of the Israeli media.
This is what happens when you are perceived as someone who might, maybe, just maybe, succeed in fulfilling the dream of all generations and overthrowing Bibi.
4.
And what's amazing is that there is an electorate for this stuff. This week I heard an interview with two young Lieberman voters, a guy and a girl. I don't remember their names, but I remember that the guy was even active in the Yisrael Beiteinu headquarters. Why are you voting for him? The interviewer asked. And they both answered, each in turn: Because Lieberman is the only one who is really fighting religious coercion and the Haredim. He will put an end to it.
The interviewer asked what kind of religious coercion they were referring to, and the guy replied: "For example, do you know that the state pays a yeshiva worshiper six times more than an ordinary citizen?""
I'm not a numbers guy, but I asked myself if that's true, why doesn't that same Liberman voter become a kollel abbot. Or even open his own kollel. That sounds like a startup that could bring in a lot of money, this religious coercion.
But the interviewer went in a different direction: Can you give me, he asked, an example of an activity or legislation that Lieberman has done in all his years of activity against religious coercion?
There was an awkward silence on the line.
After a few seconds, the girl said, "I don't have an example right now." The interviewer moved on to the guy, the same activist at Yisrael Beiteinu headquarters, and received the same answer. That is, the same silence.
5.
The use that Lieberman has made in recent days - and will continue to make in the time remaining until the elections - of the Haredim, of hating the Haredim, as if what interests him now is the issue of conscription, made me miss our bitterest political enemies.
Take, for example, the Meretz people of those days. Oh, who would give me Shulamit Aloni. There was an agenda there, there was a worldview, there was an ideological sub-division. Of course, I don't really miss this sub-division, and of course in my eyes (and in the eyes of God) it is terrible. But listen, there was some truth there. Shulamit Aloni really feared a halakhic state, really saw the occupation as moral corruption, really wanted to strengthen the High Court of Justice. And above all, she really cared about the State of Israel.
But today, the new leader of the secularists doesn't believe in any value except one: Lieberman. He's not here to promote anything, he hasn't promoted anything in the past. Nada. He's only interested in his power and his status and that the country will burn. Or worse: that it will go to the polls again.
And so, in my humble opinion, he didn't compromise at the last minute. That's why common sense didn't win in the end. Because there is no common sense. There are only passions and ego. What's important to Lieberman is to come out strong, and for him, all the children in the world will mock him on the way to school.
When you have principles, you can afford to compromise. Not compromise on principles, but compromise for principles. But when you have no principles, what will you compromise on?
6.
And a final word about the man we started with, Naftali Bennett. On Sunday evening, just hours before he suffered another blow and was fired by the Prime Minister, he stood in front of his home in Ra'anana and made a wonderful speech: "For the first time, I will be able to dedicate the start of the school year on September 1st only to my four children, and not to all two million children in the Israeli education system. Every person has a replacement, including me. I can assure you that you are in good hands. I commit to carrying out an orderly overlap for every minister who replaces me in order to minimize the shocks leading up to the start of the school year in 90 days.".
""My deepest gratitude to you, the Israeli public, and to the Creator of the world, for granting me the rare privilege of leading the education system of Israeli children for the past four years. I did the best I could for the people of Israel and for the children of Israel whom I love so much.".
Bennett later said: "The State of Israel has been caught up in another election campaign. This is not a good thing, but there is an opportunity here for all of us to come to it smarter, more serious and more humble. Me too.".
Beautiful, right? Gratitude for what happened, gathering inward toward the family, humility, taking responsibility, self-awareness. After such talk, the bottom line should only come: an announcement of retirement from political life for the purpose of reflection and soul-searching.
But then, to my surprise, Bennett announced that he was continuing to run with his new party.
What a shame. It was embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as his meeting with Feiglin this week to explore future collaboration. Believe me, Naftali, I know you well and I know him well. Even as a second pairing, it's a bad match. It's really not what you need right now. Take a break. Let yourself miss him. I'm sure we'll meet again.
• The column is published in the newspaper Hasheva
