Everyone is looking for a 'third bloc' — but in Israel, such a thing simply does not exist | Roi Lachmanovich

Do you know the difference between the 'Third Way' of Avigdor Kahalani, who ran in the 1996 Knesset elections, and the 'Third Way' — a path identified with US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the 90s?

The answer lies in the word 'way'. The 'Third Way' of Clinton and Blair was a concept attempting to combine the free economy of the capitalist right with the social responsibility of the socialist left. An attempt to formulate and create a new and complex path. The 'Third Way' of Kahalani and Immanuel Zisman was formed, as we recall, mainly against the backdrop of opposition to the withdrawal from the Golan Heights as part of an agreement with Syria. The threat passed, the path passed, and after the party won 4 mandates in the 14th Knesset, it subsequently disappeared.

The Israeli political system is fundamentally a two-party democracy, or perhaps one should say a bipolar system, and each pole is wrapped in various satellite parties. Over the years, we have seen a shift of dominance from left to right, the collapse of the historical Mapai and its more recent incarnations (Labor, Ma'arach, One Israel), and the establishment of personal parties that tried and are trying to become a mechanism party relying on a bureaucratic, institutionalized, and centralized system. On the right, we saw one such attempt (Kadima), which failed.

In the religious-Haredi arena, we saw religious Zionism cooperating with Mapai as a dominant party until December 1976. The cooperation ceased following what became known as the 'brilliant maneuver', in which Yitzhak Rabin chose to fire the three Mafdal ministers after they abstained in a no-confidence vote submitted by Agudat Yisrael following the ceremony of receiving the first F-15 aircraft for the Air Force. These dismissals led to the end of the historical Mapai-Mafdal alliance.

Also in the Haredi arena, we saw cooperation with both political poles. Both from Agudat Yisrael, and later from Shas. All this ceased with the famous speech of the great Lithuanian Ashkenazi Torah leader in March 1990, which was called the 'rabbit speech'.

This is what Rabbi Shach said in his speech: 'If there are kibbutzim that do not know what Yom Kippur is, do not know what Shabbat is, and do not know what a mikvah is, they raise rabbits and pigs, do they have a connection with their Father? Ma'arach? Is Ma'arach something holy? They have cut themselves off from all our past and are seeking a new Torah. If there is no Shabbat and no Yom Kippur, then in what way is he a Jew?'. Rabbi Shach determined that the Haredim would also go with the right — not because of political perception, but because of the principle of closeness to tradition.

A political system based on 'permanent partnerships' and not on 'occasional partnerships'. A political system based on parties belonging to a coalition before the elections and not on parties with potential for cooperation in a future coalition. Each pole marks for itself its 'outcast parties', those to whom the right to participate in the government was denied from the start.

At the point in time when the 'Netanyahu' brand became stronger and more significant than the 'Likud' brand, it seemed that we had moved to a personal, not a party, election system. A political system in which, although we choose a party ballot, we choose a person. Together with the plans for changes in the judicial system, the October 7 massacre, and the Iron Swords war, we received a personal and radicalized political system in which the almost sole question on the agenda is: for or against Benjamin Netanyahu. Bibists against anti-Bibists.

Traveler's Prayer

The 2026 election campaign, following various processes — some of them internal to the parties — has birthed a long list of parties and figures seeking to capture the center of the political map: Benny Gantz and Dadi Simhi, Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel, Gilad Erdan, Yuli Edelstein and Aliza Bloch, Ayelet Shaked, Ofer Winter.

There are those who call them in polls or from time to time in newspaper headlines the 'third bloc'. Well, no. In Israel, there is no third bloc, because there is not and will not be in Israel a third way that has a presence only in the political system. A political platform is only one component of a way. When forming a way, there must be tradition, shared values, educational institutions, active communities.

The only 'third way' that currently exists in Israel is religious Zionism. A path paved between secular pioneering and Haredi life. A path that has clear values, communities, educational institutions, and yes — also a political party.

Another 'third way' (or 'third bloc') is beginning to emerge, and, apparently, will try its strength in the upcoming elections, and it is unclear if its time has come. This is the integrating Haredi movement, which is running within the framework of the 'Haredi Public' list. A stream attempting to rise and take its place in the middle between the separatist Haredi life and the integrating Israeli life. This stream has an education system, very active communities within the Haredi areas, values in the process of formation, and local leaders, some of whom were even elected to city councils.

By the way, why are those 'centrist' parties, apparently, not a block or a third way? Just ask their leaders the following question: after the elections, you can complete one coalition for any of the different poles. Only one option to choose. Who would you join? Going to new elections will jeopardize your ability to pass the electoral threshold again. I have no doubt that everyone will have one clear choice. Their choice marks the identity of the block to which they belong.

So if you are asking: what do the centrist party of Yitzhak Mordechai, the 'Third Way' of Kahalani, the 'Shinui' party of Tommy Lapid, the 'Kadima' party of Ariel Sharon, the 'Kulanu' party of Moshe Kahlon, and the 'Blue and White' party of Benny Gantz have in common? They all understood, and the hard way, that there are no shortcuts, and that a political construction is not a new 'third way' — unless you turn it from the foundation to be such.

During one of his last hospitalizations, Prime Minister Menachem Begin left the hospital and asked to stop and address the journalists who were waiting for him at the exit. A devoted nurse turned to him and said: 'Sir, you can lean on the railing. It will be easier for you'. Begin answered her almost instinctively: 'I have never leaned on the left side'. This is the deep meaning of a way — an identity that spans a lifetime.

And what shall we say to those seekers of the 'middle' in the Israeli political system? Let them say the 'Traveler's Prayer', it certainly won't hurt.