Five election campaigns have rocked Israel since the outbreak of the political crisis in 2019. The current one is the first during which Tisha B'av falls. That is, to be precise - the "second" elections were also held a few weeks after the fast in memory of the destruction of the house, but then, in 2019, we were still under the initial shock of what seemed like a one-off political malfunction. Today, in the fifth round in three and a half years, the whole public already knows that there is only one reason for the political paralysis: personal hatreds.
"Free hatred", in the language of our sages, led to the destruction of the Second Temple and the two thousand year exile.
It is common to explain "gratuitous hatred" as unreasoned hatred between one person and another.
The truth is that during the Roman occupation there were actually justifications for hatred.
One group wanted to fight the Romans, while the other wanted to cooperate with them.
Even though the differences were huge, the sages instilled in us forever the conclusion that it was "gratuitous hatred".
In other words, it is allowed to disagree, and even disagree strongly with one another.
Hate - forbidden.
If you want - you can
Unfortunately, precisely on the laurels of Israeli prosperity, this historical lesson has been forgotten.
The last year proved to all the citizens of the country how hatred, and only it, assembles and dismantles governments, in the eighth decade of the country's existence.
Lapid and Bennett.
Hatred assembles and dismantles governments, photo: Dodi Vaaknin
Because, under the tenure of the outgoing government, we learned that all the political players in the Jewish parties know how to overcome huge gaps in worldview, if they only want to.
Meretz engulfed construction in the settlements.
Shaked agreed to activist judges.
Michaeli supported capitalist reforms.
As for Lapid and Levant - well, they showed that there are almost no policy differences between them and the main hater in the political system - Benjamin Netanyahu.
Their government did not break to the right nor to the left in relation to his governments, not in foreign and security matters, nor in the economic field.
It is also difficult to point out dramatic reforms that happened with them and did not happen with him.
A world as usual.
Meretz chairman, Nitzan Horowitz. Swallowed construction in the settlements, photo: Yossi Zeliger
Chicken thighs
Nevertheless, Netanyahu is banned.
hated.
why?
For personal reasons only.
Once the hatred was justified by his being a defendant in court, and once by his unreliability.
But the last months have shown that his replacements are not more reliable than him, and that the trial against him is on chickens' knees.
Netanyahu himself also mixes personal accounts - mainly at the urging of his family - in political moves.
Had he not declared a war of extermination against Gideon Sa'ar, it is likely that he would not have responded in the same vein on the part of the Minister of Justice.
Netanyahu could and should have treated Bennett, Lashked, and Livni Gantz more nicely over the years.
He forgot his late father's recommendation: "Not to treat anyone's body, but to the body of one's own person (issue in English)".
Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar.
Returned to Netanyahu in the same position, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
A naive request
But the expectation of the citizens is that these mountains of loathing will not be the main guide for decision-making in the country.
And if there is something Tisha B'av should teach us, it is the cessation of hatred, even when there are differences in the worldview, and even more so when there are not.
This is an innocent and naive request, but it undoubtedly reflects the wishes of the majority of citizens.
You up there, dear politicians, please remember the words of Rabbi Kook: "And if we are destroyed, and the world is destroyed with us, by free hatred - we will return to be built, and the world with us will be built, by free love."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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