For four months now, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been spending Saturday nights demonstrating. From north to south – with a huge concentration on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv – masses of Israelis with Israeli flags and protest shirts stand in the streets and squares of cities, listening every week to the same messages: "A government of inequality will bring no security," "The country is in danger – there is no legislation without consent," "The government has no mandate to tear the people apart," "You will not destroy democracy!"
The speakers, myself included, are required to create new versions of expressions of opposition to the government and its moves, and to explain eloquently and powerfully the dangers inherent in them. It is hard to believe that the demonstrators are not fed up with the speeches, which are repeated over and over again.
A protest movement, naturally, is a resistance movement. The protest is always oppositional, and its function is to say, "There will not be and will not be!" But this protest – which in the era of uncertainty and instability in our history has become an uncertainty and stability that is renewed every Saturday night like clockwork – must develop and move forward if it is to maintain momentum and relevance. She can't just keep saying "what's not." She has to start saying "what is."
It's time for new messages and ideas. Now is the time to have a discussion about where to go from here, even at demonstrations. Now is the time to put on stage speakers who can ignite the imagination of hundreds of thousands of Israelis that things could be different here. To make the voices of leaders who are able not only to explain why this is the most dangerous government in our history, but also to describe what a better government looks like, how it differs from the current one, and how it can get us out of the crisis.
Now is the time to ask the speakers: Don't just give us anger and frustration, don't worry about just mobilizing us for the next demonstration – give us a work plan, give us hope, replace our despair with faith in a new way.
What's more. Bring speakers to the podium who will expand the circles of support for the protest. This trend has already begun, with a growing variety of speakers representing a growing cross-section of Israeli society. This trend needs to be expanded even further, even if it means voicing more complex messages at demonstrations. The huge audience of the protest must already be accustomed to hearing new ideas, diverse perceptions, many accents in different styles: more traditional, more Judaism, more Arab, more religious, more conservatism. It's not simple, because we've gotten used to a relatively narrow set of messages for four months, but it's necessary – it's the key to getting out of the crisis.
From this crisis, Israel will emerge only through a new alliance that will be established in the center of the political map. A Zionist alliance of Israelis who believe that the leading Israeli ethos was and remains a Jewish and democratic state in one word. An alliance of pragmatic and moderate Israelis, lovers of the land and lovers of man, who recognize that Israel needs a coalition that is not "full right" or "center, left, Arabs," but a broad and practical coalition of all the forces that believe in the Declaration of Independence. A bloc of parties representing all segments of the public that advocate statehood – the state before the tribe or sector, but not in its place – and seek to find basic guidelines that are mainly pan-Israeli.
Don't agree? Very well. Come to the demonstrations with alternative messages. Bring a competing vision. The general public is already hearing proposals of all kinds. Some argue that Israel should be separated into the State of Israel and the State of Judea, some argue that Israel should be divided into cantons or autonomies, and some seek to establish a large and strong liberal-democratic camp that will win the next elections.
This discussion should take place at demonstrations, these ideas should be raised in protest, because all the energy that has erupted in recent months must be channeled into a new positive value proposition for Israel. The ongoing, moving and glorious protest in the history of the state must turn into the new Zionist movement, which will motivate us to ideological, political and social renewal.
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