The air is filled with flammable vapors. That may be our permanent condition, but these days it is even more so. There is a real fear that Donald Trump is on the way to a historic retreat, not only on Iran but also on Phase Two in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s urgent trip makes clear there is reason for concern, and it is possible that Israel will be left alone in the campaign.
It was clear that a flawed strategy led us to the massacre of October 7. It is also clear that the strategy since October 7 has led us to a diplomatic collapse. And if we continue with the same strategy, Hamas and Hassan Nasrallah will keep celebrating from the grave.
It is possible that Netanyahu is already preparing the protocols that will prove the diplomatic collapse is not his fault at all. He knew, he warned, he wagged his finger. And once again, those villains, perhaps at the National Security Council, perhaps in the nonexistent public diplomacy headquarters or perhaps at the Foreign Ministry, implemented the opposite policy. How, damn it, do they always do this to him?
Netanyahu knows we are in a sensitive situation. That is exactly what he said at the press conference two weeks ago. After all, even without an American strike, we are at the threshold of a complex confrontation with Iran that could be multi-front. It is already clear that to cope seriously we need unity. It is also clear that internal disputes have already caused significant damage to national resilience.
Grant me a pardon, Netanyahu asked the president, so he could work to ‘heal the rifts in the nation.’ One simple question needs to be asked: And without a pardon, you will not work to heal the rifts? Are you threatening us? Are we hostages?
We are hostages
It turns out the answer is yes. We are hostages. Because if even now Netanyahu’s emissaries continue to bombard us with legislative proposals that most of the public opposes, then the goal is to deepen the divides. The Israel Defense Forces need another 12,000 soldiers. The shortage will cost us dearly in terms of security. What will Netanyahu say? Will he pull out protocols proving that he opposed draft evasion and everyone else rejected his just position?
The same applies to the small hooligan, a convicted criminal and draft evader, who is being turned into the Likud’s new hero. Do you not have a single word, Netanyahu, against the hooligan who attacked Aharon Barak, the man you begged to secure you a plea deal, the man you asked to represent Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague? And you are silent? This is not the right. The right has solid arguments on a range of issues, including constitutional ones. The question is how change is led.
It was Knesset member Benjamin Halevy of the Herut movement who declared in the Knesset in 1974, in these words: ‘A law that is meant to be a supreme norm must be accepted by all parts of the public and must not offend the feelings of any group, even if it is a minority, all the more so if it is a large minority.’ I would like to suggest to Netanyahu and his associates: Please, look at the protocols of Knesset debates on important laws, such as the Human Rights Law. Look especially at the words of right-wing lawmakers. Lips will kiss. What thinking. What level. What mastery of governance and law. But between the right of Benjamin Halevy and the right of Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Tali Gotliv lies an abyss.
Mr. Prime Minister, those who weaken Israel are not the right. Those who damage the security services in order to save themselves are not the right. Those who encourage draft evasion are not the right. Israel needs a Zionist, national right for which the good of the state matters more than primaries.
We are approaching elections, and it is only getting worse. Instead of a strong Israel, the bloc of draft evaders insists on turning Israel into something far weaker. Not healing rifts, but creating dangerous confrontations. They promote legislation because they want the High Court of Justice to strike it down, and then to whine about the rule of the ‘deep state.’ In their view, this is good for the upcoming primaries and for warming up the base, even though it is bad for Israel. They want to drag us toward a constitutional crisis. The court will rule one way, even though it already has a conservative majority, and calls to disobey will grow louder. What will the police do? How will the Shin Bet act? Instead of confronting the external enemy, they will drag us into a crisis that deepens the rift, the hostility and the hatred.
So the question must be asked again: Is this the right? According to every possible poll, most of the public opposes coercive legislation that only worsens the divides and the rifts. And what is the coalition led by Ben-Gvir, Yariv Levin, Simcha Rothman and Netanyahu doing? Now, of all times, it wants to create unnecessary disputes. Now, of all times, it wants to harm the majority through more coercive legislation. Now, of all times, it is advancing the draft evasion law, the most painful kick to the majority of the public in general and to all combat soldiers in particular.
Ben-Dror YeminiPhoto: Avigail UziMr. Prime Minister, all these rifts, while we are in the midst of a low-intensity campaign that could soon become far more intense, are registered in your name. You bear the responsibility, and you bear the blame. Those who weaken Israel are not the right. Those who harm the security services in order to save themselves are not the right. Those who encourage draft evasion are not the right. Those who turn a hooligan and a draft evader into a hero are not the right.
Israel needs a Zionist, national right, one for which the good of the state matters more than primaries. And the bloc of draft evaders you lead may be many things. But it is not the right.