The Israeli Elections

So much hangs in today’s election. Millions of Israelis will go to the polls dreaming of an end to a national nightmare. A roughly equal number will vote for the status quo: a bellicose government with little capacity for compromise willing to tolerate suffering in Gaza and the continued subjugation of West Bank residents. It has turned a blind eye to attacks on Arab villagers and the rapid appropriation of land and resources. The violence is beginning to spiral, with retaliatory attacks on Israeli soldiers and police.

This would all have happened without October 7, but the massacre of Israeli Jews has sharpened the conflict and released energies that were suppressed, albeit barely. We continue to live in a post-Holocaust world where everything is seen against the background of Warsaw and Majdanek.

On a good day, Israel is capable of defending itself. The inquiries that will eventually take place will likely reveal that October 7 was a massive security failure. With appropriate respect for what the female lookouts saw, the army could have intervened and saved Israelis in the Gaza Envelope. Instead, the country was existentially shaken, fearful that without massive retaliation, the Jewish people were on the verge of disaster. Unscrupulous politicians have milked that despair, holding on to power that they do not deserve.

I pray for our Israeli sisters and brothers, hoping that the right people will be defeated while others ascend to power in their place. This will not be easy or without terrible conflict. The ethno-nationalists on the Israeli Right are powered by messianic dreams of conquest. As a religious person, I know the force of that vision, but I also know the prayer in the Book of Isaiah that the Temple in Jerusalem will be a house for all people. The prophet dreams of gentle coexistence before a God who receives us in a divine embrace that is inclusive, egalitarian, hopeful, and sustaining. There is no bloody border in this vision, but a boundaryless world of radiant love.

We should also be careful not to hope for too much. Because of the way the Israeli polity is structured, there is a strong possibility that the right person will become Prime Minister and yet fail to form a successful majority. Israel’s fate will be determined by the decisions of small parties who will wheel and deal for the most advantageous outcomes. That means they might settle for fractional advantages, seduced by something other than the national interest.

But once again, I am prayerfully hopeful. Israelis are capable of pulling themself back from the brink. They have proven strong enough to affirm their best instincts and play an essential role in the history of the Jewish People. I reach out my hands to the whole of my international family, confident that good will come of this moment.