Only 106 more days.
That’s right, only 106 more days until Israel’s fifth election in just three-and-a-half years will be over. That means there are “only” 106 more days in which one segment of the population can demonize the other, in which one constituency can delegitimize the other, and in which people can speak ill and disparagingly of one another without anyone batting an eyelash.
Why? Because we are in the midst of an election campaign, and that is what is expected.
There are many reasons why repeated elections are bad for this country. They preclude the possibility of consistent policy, they radiate weakness and instability to the country’s enemies, and they highlight the country’s many divisions.
Nowhere in the world do elections bring out the best in people. Nowhere in the world do people say they can’t wait for an election campaign because it brings out man’s magnanimity and generosity to his fellow man. Nowhere in the world do elections accentuate the positive.
Elections all over the world divide; they never unite, and Israel is by no means an exception.
Just a couple of weeks into the current campaign, and already both the silliness and the nastiness of election campaigns are shining bright.
Netanyahu medallion
For silliness, one need look no further than a Likud event in Jerusalem on Sunday. A party activist put a necklace with a medallion featuring the likeness of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s flag on a Likud primary candidate, Heidi Mozes, who then said it was a “declaration of loyalty to our leader.”
The incident, and Mozes’ effort to then put the necklace on Likud secretariat chairman Yisrael Katz, caused a ripple on social media, forcing Netanyahu, Katz and other Likud officials to distance themselves from such signs of loyalty that seem more suited to North Korea.
As for the nastiness, Channel 12 reported on Sunday about a Likud event in Mevaseret Zion last week attended by several Likud MKs that was organized by a party activist named Rami Ben Yehuda. The MKs hugged Ben Yehuda, praised him and sought his support in the upcoming primaries.
They apparently forgot – and we are being charitable here – that this is the same Likud activist who harassed opposing MKs over the last year, calling Yamina Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked a “call girl” for the Palestinians, Yamina MK Nir Orbach a “dog, and the wife of New Hope MK Ze’ev Elkin a “psycho, another miserable Russian traitor.”
Ben Yehuda is not exactly a personality one would expect MKs to pay homage to. In fact, Ben Yehuda is someone from whom responsible politicians should take pains to distance themselves.
But don’t get the wrong idea; campaign ugliness is not the exclusive purview of only one side of the political spectrum.
Crime Minister
The Crime Minister organization, which for months led weekly protests against then-prime minister Netanyahu across from his official residence in Jerusalem – protests where some despicable things about Netanyahu and his family were said and some loathsome posters were occasionally displayed – is back. The organization held a protest, their first in a year, in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
A quick glance at the group’s Facebook page shows that it is not going to be adding a constructive voice to the political debate during this campaign season. This page includes countless examples of fear-mongering, sayingthe “messianic Right” together with the “corrupt Right” will “turn Israel into Iran.” The page also features ugly smears against those whom the group simply does not like, such as Channel 12 political correspondent Amit Segal.
Ben Yehuda and the Crime Minister movement represent the extremes, and the way they communicate does not reflect how most people in this country argue – even about politics.
The problem is that during election campaigns, it is unfortunately the fringes – those who yell the loudest, act the most obnoxious and say the most outlandish things – which draw the most attention. During campaigns, reasoned arguments are too often drowned out, swallowed up by the Rami Ben Yehudas of Israel.
We bewail this trend and number it among the reasons we are counting the days until this election campaign ends and the volume in the country is lowered from ear-splitting to what we are all used to: just plain loud.