Since these are fateful elections, it is difficult to understand the conduct of the 'change bloc'
Instead of uniting behind Gadi Eisenkot, each of the bloc's parties is setting conditions, as if we were already in coalition negotiations after the victory over the nightmare government. Despite the good intentions, this is not how one builds an alternative to the government.
"Is this democracy, that one person, or eleven, or fifteen people called 'ministers' should deprive the people of their elementary rights and move their 'majority' in the parliament to pass a 'law' according to which any soldier or policeman is allowed to arrest and imprison any person who is suspicious in his eyes... Is this not a fake democracy, whose real content is tyranny?"
These exemplary words were said by none other than Menachem Begin, the sixth Prime Minister of Israel and the greatest leader of the Likud, distilling the fact that democracy is first and foremost the preservation of human liberty and that the decision of the majority is legitimate as long as it does not infringe upon this liberty. Begin's teacher and mentor, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, also insisted on this, stating:
"It is foolish to identify majority rule with the essence of democracy and liberty. The essence of liberty is the aspiration that no one should be forced to submit to what his conscience opposes, even if this determination is supported by the majority."
This is the whole doctrine, and it is what the upcoming fateful elections are about: will Israel remain a democracy, or will the regime coup carried out here by Benjamin Netanyahu, Yariv Levin and their partners be fully completed, and we will become a full-blown dictatorship. Apart from the October 7 massacre, which alone justifies the replacement of the coalition of blood, incitement, division and lies, this is the central question that the citizens of Israel must ask themselves when they come to the ballot box.
Unfortunately, we have arrived again, as has happened in the past, at a situation where there are those who try to use democracy itself to destroy it, but this time it is a disguised tyranny, tyranny under the guise of law, a deceptive tyranny. Just this week, the Likud announced their intention to complete the "reform", including the replacement of most of the Supreme Court judges, a replacement that means appointing judges on behalf of the government, which will be the final nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy.
Many in the public have not yet internalized the danger lurking at their doorstep, the danger of losing their freedom, because this is a tyranny that disguises itself as democracy, and it does not need tanks in the streets and mass arrests. It is enough for it to crush the democratic institutions and the Supreme Court in order to rule without restraint, to turn an elected parliamentary majority into tyranny. And therefore, the elections in Israel this time will be under the sign of to be or not to be a democracy.
Since these are fateful elections, it is difficult to understand the conduct of the 'change bloc'. Instead of uniting behind Gadi Eisenkot, each of the bloc's parties is setting conditions, as if we were already in coalition negotiations after the victory over the nightmare government. Despite the good intentions, this is not how one builds an alternative to the government.
This does not mean that all the parties of the bloc or most of them should unite. A clear and firm statement is needed, according to which all the parties of change support Eisenkot. The man who some claimed was devoid of charisma has become someone who radiates honest, determined and reliable leadership, and he has great appeal, not only among centrist voters but also among the liberal right, and in the periphery. While Eisenkot is honest, Netanyahu is crooked, and if the 'change bloc' really wants to defeat Netanyahu and preserve democracy, it must unite around Eisenkot's leadership.
