Analysis - Israeli Democracy Has Been Given a Chance. It May Not Get Another

Joint List headquarters in Nazareth, at the moment of the exit polls' release, Tuesday. Credit: Daniel Rollider

Let's start with the good news: Benjamin Netanyahu failed to prevent the election from taking place on schedule. He also failed to close the skies to Israelis coming from abroad to vote, or to disrupt voting by the Arab community.

On Tuesday, Israelis demonstrated remarkable loyalty to the democratic system by turning out in masses at the polls. They mobilized to save the country from the reign of terror of the October 7 government, and to thwart its schemes to continue the forever war abroad and the campaign of destruction at home, with the aim of turning Israel into an apartheid dictatorship.

Two groups of voters stood out in this election; above all, the Arab citizens, who came down off the fence and voted at record rates to remove the government that had abused them, abandoned their lives to murderous gangs and suppressed their right to express themselves.

Eisenkot after the exit polls came in. He's embarking on the mission of his life with integrity and good intentions, but limited political experience. Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

Four years of the government of horrors have disproved the claim that, from the perspective of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, there is no difference between the Zionist left and Itamar Ben-Gvir. It turns out that there is an enormous difference between the misdeeds of the left in the past and the current Kahanist government, which has advocated killing and population transfer, devastated Gaza and cultivated Jewish terrorism in the West Bank.

This doesn't absolve previous governments of responsibility for discriminating against Arabs, and the road to equality remains long. But Arab voters have taken a critical step in that direction.

The contribution of the second group that stood out in this election – the tens of thousands of Israelis who flew in from abroad – is still hard to quantify in terms of Knesset seats. But they showed that despite years as émigrés, Israel remains their homeland and their home, and they came to save it from the abyss toward which Netanyahu has dragged it. Only the current emergency prompted this kind of effort, something that had never happened before.

Benjamin Netanyahu voting Tuesday. Israelis flew in from abroad to save their country from the abyss toward which the prime minister has dragged it Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Now for the less encouraging news. The election was conducted properly, but it didn't heal the deep divisions in Israeli society. It merely exposed those divisions in all their severity. The effort to repair the damage caused by Netanyahu – to end the war on all fronts, rebuild the country's institutions, stop Jewish terrorism and renew the peace process – will require flexibility and creativity in forming the next government.

If Netanyahu cared about the country, he would retire from political life, find a formula for resolving his corruption trial and try to extricate himself from the international arrest warrant amid suspicions of war crimes and crimes against humanity. If he allowed his successors to rebuild Israel and return it to the family of nations, he might salvage a little of his honor, which was irreparably stained by Hamas' October 7 massacre and the war in Gaza.

But Netanyahu has a hard time relinquishing power, so he will work to undermine the clear election result: a majority opposed to his rule. He might drag Israel into another election, which he would enter at the helm of a caretaker government, or he will aim for a unity government in which he can maneuver and diminish his partners.

He knows that most of the Israelis who flew in won't return from abroad anytime soon for another election. Arab voters, too, may grow disillusioned and revert to their low turnouts of the past. Democracy has been given a chance to save itself, maybe one that won't return.

Once all the votes have been counted, flexibility and creativity will be needed to form a stable government of national rescue. Gadi Eisenkot, who during the campaign overtook Naftali Bennett as the head of the "bloc of change," is embarking on the mission of his life with integrity and good intentions, but limited political experience. His test will be to persuade his partners to accept his leadership and build a framework for cooperation with representatives of the Arab community, in the face of incitement from Likud and its allies.

He has one powerful factor in his favor: the fear of continued rule by Netanyahu and his Kahanist partners if the parties that won the election squander their victory on squabbles and power struggles. Even so, an enormous obstacle stands in his way as he seeks to succeed Netanyahu as prime minister.