No matter what words you decorate it with, there are promises that must not be violated Israel today

Precisely when we have reached an absolute majority of right-wing seats, we are approaching a complete loss of orientation • Instead of continuing straight, Saar and Bennett turn left • Politicians need to understand that in the end they will remember one thing in the future: who put ideology first • Opinion

• Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett

  Photo: 

  Oren Ben Hakon

Has ideology become such a rude and obscene word in our political discourse?

That's right, politics is the craft of compromise, constraint and bargaining.

Politics is the arena where you swallow a frog if need be, where priorities can be flexible, where you are sometimes forced to mark a goal and pay a price - principled, ideological, sometimes even members - to achieve your goals.

And this is exactly the point: you are doing it to achieve your goals - not someone else's goals. And by "yours" or "someone else", it does not mean personal, careeristic goals - no matter how important, and it is a mistake to underestimate them. Ambition and competition are an important part of the political game. But they too are only a means - not an end. The contract we have with our leaders is one: use the tools you have to realize the goals for which we have chosen you. We will understand if sometimes it will not be perfect, and we will accept that sometimes promises are broken, or that reality is stronger than our plans. But there is a way, there is a general direction reading.

And on the right, these goals are clear: standing firm against the Iranian threat, defending Israel's interests and freedom of action vis-à-vis every American administration and the European Union, preserving Israel's new alliances on the moderate axis in the Arab world, upholding the core values ​​of Zionism and nationalism, continuing economic development, strengthening Pluralism in academia, culture and the media, and of course - a clear statement about Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley: After we have taken down the doctrine of retreats, we are talking about applying sovereignty.

This is the direction the right is heading, and it has had undeniable achievements over the past decade, especially given the starting point, the reality we were in a little over a decade ago - when the world pushed for another "convergence", when we were warned of a political tsunami, when we disengaged and received rockets and goldstone.

We are no longer there - and there is a clear reason for this: because the governments of Israel have been led by a solid right-wing leadership.

Yes, it also incorporated representatives of the left and yes, it also had to go to unity when there was no choice.

And yes, she sometimes had to fold a flag or two, and sometimes she even pissed off the right "base."

But these were right-wing governments, with right-wing dominance - formed to move in the direction the right is heading.

All partnerships have recognized that in the most existential, principled and profound questions - the ideological direction is clear.

Bennett: I will work to form a unity government // Photo: Knesset Channel

And strangely enough, and precisely when we reach an absolute majority of right-wing seats in the Knesset - we are approaching a complete loss of orientation. Due to the urgency of making a change, we are also willing to consider a reflective U-turn, or at least a sharp left turn. The left not only recognizes the right-wing disintegration, but also fully admits that this is exactly the moment they have been waiting for. One by one, the representatives of the left come up - once it is an incumbent MK, once it is a former MK, once it is a newspaper publisher - and everyone admits: it will be a one-time "flick", we will use and throw it away, we will throw it and then we will see. : Our only hope of diverting the Israeli ship from the path to which the national camp is heading is to put a temporary captain at the helm.

It does not matter how many beautiful words we decorate it - unity, statehood, healing, change - the excitement on the left can not be hidden, and its meaning can not be denied: the right will no longer be able to dictate the direction of travel, certainly not as before.

Even if the prime minister is from the right, it is not the same.

What matters is not only who kills the king, but who makes the new king, what he gets for it - and where he strives to go with it.

We have no privilege in deceiving ourselves: the left has not stood up to remove one prime minister from the right, in order to replace him with another prime minister from the right.

Bad blood, precipitation, boycotts, promises: there are plenty of these, for everyone.

If you want to prevent further elections or escape the lack of political origin, it will not be possible not to break a promise.

It is impossible to escape sitting with the confiscated, it is impossible to come out pure.

Liabilities will in any case be breached, the question is which, and for what?

Therefore, precisely from this cocoon of boycotts and impossible promises, precisely from the most tangled place in the tangle - one can converge on the only thing about which we can not afford to blink: our ideology. If you in any case break a commitment or reset the ego or have to shut up - at least you will do it to advance our ideology, of the right, of the national camp, in the most complete, possible, deepest way. After all, everything will fade away in the end. The dust will settle. No one will remember in a month or two who gave up, who bent, who winked and who defected. What they will remember is one: who put ideology first, and who allowed the Israeli ship to deviate from the ideological path of the right. In the situation we have reached, this is the only test that must not fail. This is the only commitment you must not violate.