Politicians, be quiet: it will be easier for us to listen to you • Column

February 5, 2023   

There was not a Knesset member or minister who opened his speech in the faction or in the plenum last week without sharing in the grief of the families of those murdered in the attack in Jerusalem. Even the demonstrators last Saturday - some of whom may criticize the very fact of holding the demonstration while blood is still boiling - lit candles and remembered the murdered. But these are the only minutes in which everyone agreed with everyone else, and a moment later, they are supposedly set free, and let their tongues loose again. It is fascinating to see how each side is convinced with all their heart not only of their rightness, but also that the opposing side is harming the security of the state and its economy. Each faction releases arguments that will convince you for a moment that all evil is on the other side of the political map. They, and only "they", are to blame. Every hallway conversation, on any issue, will take on a different tone, depending on who you met at that moment. An MK in the opposition? Will he explain why Deri stole. Someone from the coalition? He could be a liberal, someone who is not enthusiastic about the Haredim, maybe even a little racist, but he will come up with passionate arguments about why the Supreme Court justices hate Sephardim, and therefore ruled against the poor Shas chairman. While Ben-Gvir is sure that he is doing the right thing when he is looking for ways to punish the terrorists, Gantz is angry that "with the end of Shabbat, when millions learn about the terrible massacre, the first thing the chaos-mongers, Minister Ben-Gvir and his extremist friends, were concerned about how many hours it will take to seal off a house." Now you decide who is right. As for me? Everyone is right, everyone is wrong. "It doesn't occur to me all the time that I quote Yair Lapid," Deri said pathetically. Then he quoted Lapid. "Be opposition to the government - but don't be opposition to the state." Where is the problem? When a year and a half ago the government of change was established here, one in which Deri served as an opposition MK, what did the opposition do? Roughly what the current one does. It fought. Haredi MKs demanded that Haredi journalists not give a platform to MKs from the change bloc, and explained why the government is not legitimate. The truth is, in my opinion, legitimate for both sides. But it is natural that every opposition tries to fight the coalition, each one does so in the ways it chooses. There were oppositions that sprayed air freshener in the plenum, and there are those who slander the coalition as bad in the world (not nice, but no war is nice). Deri says: "Fight the government, don't destroy the State of Israel, you are now doing things like the worst of our opponents, the BDS and their friends." He may be right, but then, talk to an opposition member and you will hear that he is simply trying to save the State of Israel from those who are trying to destroy democracy. So good luck to both warring sides. But I have one problem when the blood is still dripping, when the bodies are being brought for burial, when the bereaved families are sitting 'sheva' - give them some quiet. Just for a few days. It's clear to me that you're incapable of more than that. I would expect the Saturday demonstration to be canceled. I would long to see faction meetings where they talk only about the memory of the murdered. That's it. When you keep quiet for a few days, then it will be easier for us to listen to you.