WhatsappWe still do not know the final outcome of these elections. But one lesson is already crystal clear: the political Left in Israel can no longer win an election.
Its only realistic path to forming a government is by relying on the anti-Israel Arab parties, something a vast majority of the Jewish population in Israel view as fundamentally wrong, reprehensible and literally suicidal.
And that should terrify the Israeli Left, because these were the best political conditions it could possibly have dreamed of to win an election.
For years, the political left, together with the justice system and mainstream media painted Netanyahu as literally corrupt. Years of investigations, prosecutions and potentially millions in taxpayer money spent pursuing cases that helped convince Israelis that he was personally corrupt, self-serving and unfit to govern.
Yet now, inside the courtroom, all the cases against him are falling apart, including testimony from the former Attorney General who indicted Netanyahu, admitting to allegedly illegal and unauthorized actions taken by law enforcement and the attorney general’s office in pursuing Netanyahu.
Then came a brilliantly evil, but effective, and deeply destructive, election campaign.
Israelis were bombarded with claims and conspiracy theories blaming Netanyahu personally for October 7, including allegations that he had been warned beforehand and simply did nothing. All lies that even Egypt and the UAE publicly denied!
At the same time, the election was successfully transformed into a virtual one-issue referendum on the ultra-Orthodox draft.
That was politically brilliant. Take a real and painful societal issue, use it to generate maximum anger against the government and convince frustrated right-wing Israelis not to vote for Netanyahu, Likud or the other right-wing parties.
But now comes the absurdity.
The election is barely over and politicians on the Left and voices in the mainstream media are already demanding dumping their supposedly sacred demand for an ultra-Orthodox draft in order to entice the ultra-Orthodox parties into a government with the Left!
You cannot make this stuff up.
I have been saying throughout this campaign: they are cynically hijacking a real issue, inflaming hatred and division within the Jewish people and weaponizing it to win an election.
And now they are proving the point themselves.
If drafting the ultra-Orthodox was truly the defining moral issue they told Israelis it was, how does that principle suddenly become negotiable the moment ultra-Orthodox politicians could provide the seats necessary to form a government with them?
The truth is that much of the political Left never wanted masses of ultra-Orthodox Jews serving in the IDF in the first place. But the issue became an extraordinarily useful political weapon against Netanyahu and the Right to split the right and win an election.
And after all of that, the legal campaign, the October 7 accusations, the draft campaign, enormous amounts of money and organizational effort, flying expat voters into Israel, maximizing the Arab vote and relentless anti-Netanyahu coverage across much of the mainstream media, the Israeli Left still could not win the Jewish Israeli electorate.
Yet instead of confronting that reality, its leaders are demonstrating an astonishing blindness to what the Israeli people are telling them.
Gadi Eizenkot gave what amounted to a victory speech last night. Yair Golan is already calling for the Left to form a government together with the anti-Israel Arab parties.
That response exposes the entire problem.
Rather than asking why so many Jewish Israelis continue rejecting their political vision, they are searching for a mathematical path around the Jewish electorate.
That is an extraordinary disconnect from the country they hope to govern.
If the Left could not win under political conditions this favorable, when exactly does it expect to win?
Likud will not govern Israel forever. No party does. But the political center of gravity among Jewish Israelis remains nationalist, Zionist and deeply attached to Israel as a strong Jewish state.
Even many Israelis who call themselves centrists fundamentally want that.
That is why blind hatred of Netanyahu is not a political vision. Neither is dividing Israelis, weaponizing genuine societal problems or depending upon anti-Israel Arab politicians to assemble a parliamentary majority.
The Israeli Left desperately needs a genuine reckoning, not about how to hate Netanyahu more effectively, but about why so many Jewish Israelis continue rejecting what it is selling.
Because Netanyahu will eventually leave politics.
But Israel will continue to grow as a strong Jewish state, with a Jewish population strengthening its Jewish identity, its connection with our God-given, indigenous, ancestral homeland, and continue in fulfilling our purpose as a nation in these Geulah/redemption times.
And any political movement that wants to govern it must first understand the Jewish people who live here.
Strengthen your faith! We might not end up with the ideal government, but it will still be far better than what the political Left invested so much money and effort trying to achieve.
There will always be road bumps along the way. But don’t lose sight of the bigger picture.
Great times are ahead. Have faith. Be grateful. And keep moving forward!
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
