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The outward fortification of the national home, which has been achieved, must be accompanied by an internal fortification of the body politic.
By YEDIDIA STERN DECEMBER 7, 2024 15:54 Updated: DECEMBER 7, 2024 15:55
COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER Shlomo Karhi and Kan Public Broadcasting’s Michal Asulin argue at a meeting in the Knesset this week on freedom of the media. A small majority in the Knesset has set its sights on the media, political freedom, rule of law, government institutions.
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH 90)
The current geopolitical picture is infinitely clearer and more optimistic than the one prior to October 7: Israel has decimated Hezbollah, “the world’s most highly-armed terrorist organization” and defeated Hamas, which built “the world’s most sophisticated subterranean fortress,” and the Iranian empire has been dealt a significant blow.
Israel has proven its strength, determination, and sophistication and achieved the central and most important element of its national security: renewing and upgrading its deterrence power amid an environment that seeks to destroy us.
The indisputable fact that little Israel is stronger than all its enemies combined has been reburnished across the entire region: from Iran to Yemen, a distance of more than 3,000 km.
The words of the Roman Emperor Hadrian to Rabbi Yehoshua come to mind: “Great is the lamb that stands among 70 wolves” (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 5).
There is no talk of “total victory” in the real world. Our enemy will always have a residual missile that can cause damage, the situation in the Middle East is unstable, and Iran is still plotting to go nuclear.
And, of course, there is no victory as long as the hostages remain in captivity and the residents of the North are not safe in their homes. In the deepest sense, we are all held captive. We are all displaced. But from the perspective of regional deterrence, Israel has returned to its greatness, thanks to the sacrifice of the young generation in the eighth decade of our sovereignty.
I do not know if there is any truth to claims, heard in the past, that Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords – and Ariel Sharon initiated the Gaza disengagement – out of concern about the resilience of the Israeli public and its willingness to mobilize the forces required in the event of all-out war. In any case, in this war, we have proven, not only to the region’s hostile actors but also to ourselves, that we are ready to sacrifice when our backs are against the wall. We are not only the Start-Up Nation and the “People of the Book”; we are also a nation of courageous warriors.
Israelis, inclined to individualism and wrapped in hedonistic cellophane, put on their helmets and revived the strength of 1948.
Hamas dared to test us and destroyed its own home. Nasrallah looked at Israel’s outer envelope and missed the core inside. And he paid for it with his life.
But all this is not enough.
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Internal fortification must be prioritized
The outward fortification of the national home, which has been achieved, must be accompanied by an internal fortification of the body politic, and this has not yet been achieved. Anyone who lives in Israel feels the bitterness and toxicity of the relations between various groups in Israeli society. The lava that boiled up in the public sphere in Israel in 2023 and scorched the foundations of the covenant of fate among Israelis was indeed subdued by the seven-front war in 2024, but the steaming volcano may erupt again in 2025.
Once again, a small majority in the Knesset is attempting to undermine the foundations of social consensus in Israel. A dark creativity flourishes and has trained its sights on the media (privatizing and defunding public broadcasting); political freedom (expanding the grounds for disqualifying Knesset candidates and party lists); the rule of law (undisguised contempt for the authorized interpreter of the law – the attorney general); government institutions (preventing the election of a Supreme Court president); the civil service (changing the methods of selecting the commissioner); and so on and so forth.
I will not discuss the substance of the proposals here, but it is beyond doubt that they are subject to intense public controversy.
Is there public legitimacy for a government – when polls show that at least two-thirds of the public do not trust it – to take such significant steps that some see as a frightening attempt to undermine the basic wisdom of democracy? If this is the agenda, shouldn’t it be placed openly on the national table, allowing the people to go to the polls to support or oppose it?
The state’s leadership must understand that its overall, immediate, and primary responsibility is to enable Israeli society to rebuild together. Social reconstruction does not only mean allocating budgets for those who have been harmed – necessary as that is – but also, and most importantly, creating a public atmosphere of true partnership to renew the covenant of fate among all Israelis.
Just as our children have known how to deliver victory over our enemies on the battlefield, we Israelis, as a whole, must deliver to them a reconciliation among ourselves in the social arena. This is how we will fortify the national home.
The writer is president of the Jewish People Policy Institute and professor of law (emeritus) at Bar-Ilan University.
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