1.
And here it comes again: a last column before the elections. Oh, where were the times when I had the passion to write it. Even the eagerness. Weeks before the election date, I would jot down points for myself that should be highlighted in the last column before going to the polls. Which party I think is important to strengthen, which is important to weaken, who is telling the truth and who is stealing ideas.
Not that I influence legions of voters, but still, I was itching to write. And this time? Well, hey, another election. And there will probably be another election soon. How exciting can that be?
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But there is no choice, gentlemen, we must get excited. Get ourselves excited with force. Because these elections are even more fateful than the two that preceded them. And our indifference, God forbid, could make them even more fateful, in a bad way. So much is at stake this time. It's really not just Bibi versus Gantz. That's all. So I am ready and willing to fulfill the positive commandment of not being indifferent before the elections, no matter what the number.
Not being indifferent also means not just writing amusing observations about the election campaign (and not that there is a lack of such this time. Thanks, son, we enjoyed every moment with you!) but trying to influence where you can.
Just before the polls open, here are three groups of voters that are important to talk about and to.
2.
Soviet Union expatriates. In the last election, 310,154 people voted for Avigdor Lieberman. According to all the polls, a similar number may vote for him in these elections. Every additional vote for Lieberman is a danger to Judaism in the State of Israel, and therefore a danger to our very existence here.
Have you done enough to prevent this? You will say: What can we do now? If they tell us that it is important to make sacrifices for one of the right-wing bloc parties, fine, but what about us and Lieberman voters? We don't know any of those at all.
So that's it, statistically you know them, it's just that you probably don't know who they are, because you just don't talk politics with them. Actually, you don't talk to them at all.
It's time to talk to them. The parking lot guard, the piano teacher, the hygienist (although it's a bit difficult with all the braces in my mouth). What can I say to them? Oh, a lot.
First of all, good morning, how are you, nice to meet you. And regarding the elections: we can talk about Lieberman's lack of loyalty to the values he invents in every election campaign, about his cynicism, about the fact that he doesn't really care about immigrants from the CIS countries, about his harm to the right-wing government because of petty personal interests.
You can also talk to them about Judaism in the State of Israel, about the dedication with which they or their ancestors or forefathers preserved it under communist rule (assuming you are talking to Jews from among the immigrants...), and especially about delegitimization, about the wild incitement that Lieberman is now carrying out against those who observe the Torah and the commandments. An inciting campaign like Lieberman's has never been seen here. And it is all cynical and manipulative. In other words, even his hatred is not real.
Is this really the man they would want to represent them in the Israeli public? Is this the spirit?
It seems to me that there are enough reasons here why not to vote for Lieberman, even from the perspective of those who came from the Soviet Union. And note: even if you can't convince them which party to vote for, at least they won't vote for Lieberman's (fake) hate party.
3.
Otzma Yehudit supporters. Well, the next group will be much easier for you to locate, but much harder to convince: Otzma Yehudit voters. That is, the hard core of the party. Anyone who made it to the finish line with Itamar Ben-Gvir will probably have a hard time saying goodbye to him at the ballot box. But who said everything in life is easy.
And the truth is that they can be understood. They see in Ben Gvir the qualities that are most lacking in the political system: First of all, his word is his word. He speaks the truth. Second, he has the truth. That is, he has an ideology and a path that he has believed in for years and that he follows in its light. He does not change his agenda or switch parties from election campaign to election campaign. And alongside all these virtues, he is also persecuted.
They did something to him that shouldn't be done. People who had formed alliances with Yair Lapid at the time suddenly discovered a moral problem in Itamar Ben-Gvir (which didn't bother them at all in the previous round when they declared they wanted to run with him), and people who had solemnly signed an agreement with him canceled it at the very last minute.
Still, you shouldn't vote for him. I so hope that one last-minute mark will be taken off his list of virtues, perhaps even before this column is published: that for once he will break his word. If, God forbid, he doesn't go back on his promise to run to the end, voting for him would be an irresponsible act that undermines everything you, his voters, believe in.
And you know what? In a less restrictive election system, one might have chosen a type of protest vote: True, we won't pass the threshold this time, but next time they'll know how to count us. Only in this case, this protest vote endangers the Land of Israel, endangers the Torah of Israel, and endangers the people of Israel.
Is it hard for you to vote for someone who did what they did to Ben Gvir? I understand you very well. But there are other options. The Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, are also loyal to your values and are eager for every vote. Take, for example, the United Torah Judaism MK who is swinging in all the polls. Yitzhak Pindros, number 8 on the list, is a man of the Land of Israel in the full sense of the word. He grew up and was educated by Rabbi Silberman in the Jewish Quarter (anyone who knows him knows that, in contrast to Rabbi Silberman's teachings, Ben Gvir is a leftist who embellishes...), was a member of the Yesha Council and worked extensively against the expulsion from Gush Katif, a veteran activist who, among other things, heads an association for the redemption of land in the Muslim Quarter.
In the previous elections, he was not elected by a margin of 68 votes. Isn't that a shame? So what do you intend to do this coming Monday? Vote a protest vote, or put another worthy person in the Knesset, and of course strengthen the entire right-wing bloc and not endanger it?
4.
The white-ticket people. And there are also these: people who, among all the religious and ultra-Orthodox lists, have not found a party worthy of their voice, and in order to express their worldview, they cast a white-ticket ballot. While I was wrangling in my head with this worldview, I learned from an acquaintance who was a member of the ballot committee in several election campaigns that it actually has zero meaning.
The protest (very dangerous, as mentioned) of the Otzma Yehudit members will come to light when the votes are counted, when we know how many voters insisted on voting for Ben Gvir. In contrast, the protest of the white ballot members will remain completely secret. No one, except the one sitting high up inspecting and checking ballot boxes, and perhaps even the members of the ballot committee where they voted, will know about their protest. Why? Because the Knesset Elections Committee does not publish the number of white ballots that were put into the ballot boxes. They are simply counted along with the other invalid votes. In other words, you can bother and drive to the polling station, stand in line, go inside, put a white ballot in an envelope and feel like the pure righteous - but at the end of the day, your vote will be counted along with the invalid ballots. In other words, you and the idiot, or the scoundrel, who put four ballots in one envelope, or a scoundrel with a pen on a ballot, are now members of the same party called "the invalid votes.".
5.
What do politicians say to the cameras when they arrive at the polling station on election day morning? "Citizens of Israel, go vote!" So go vote, but vote correctly, okay? If you're not voting correctly, don't go.
• The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva''
