The Breaking Point

The news out of Israel is again serious but not surprising. By firing the leaders of the two centrist parties in his coalition, Prime Minister Netanyahu has set the stage for early elections, likely coming in March 2015.

Early polls are as reliable in Israel as in the U.S. – not very. It may be that the surge of support for right-wing parties that was seen during last summer’s Gaza operation will hold and the next government will be even more ultra-nationalist than this one. Reports that the Prime Minister will reach out to the ultra-Orthodox parties for a new coalition mean that both ultranationalist and religious extremism could be dominant in a new government.

But Israelis are worried and many are losing faith in their political system. The attacks on too many innocent civilians — both Jewish and Palestinians — the growing inequity between rich and poor, the stalemate in peace talks, and the fraying of the Israel-US relationship are bothering a lot of Israelis, and not just progressives in Tel Aviv. Some pundits are predicting the lowest voter turnout in Israel’s history.

I hope not. One reason we have doubled-down on our investment in Israel through our New Initiatives for Democracy program is because we think Israel may be nearing a turning point. The strong opposition – from the left to the center right – to the proposed Jewish nation-state Basic Law, which we believe would severely harm Israeli democracy, indicates that just as tea-party-types frequently do everywhere, extremists in Israel may have overreached.

As Gershom Goremberg wrote last week:

Seen from abroad, a country and its leader can easily be equated. That’s an optical illusion created by distance. Netanyahu’s coalition is particularly fragile because the right lost votes in the 2013 election, forcing him to share power with two centrist parties. The nation-state bill doesn’t represent a political shift of the country as a whole. Rather, it signifies an increasingly bitter fight over Israel’s direction….

An Israeli election campaign is like a war: It’s much easier to start one than to predict how it will end. If Netanyahu turns the next one into an argument about whether “Jewish” means more democratic or less, all bets are off.

As always, the New Israel Fund will not engage in partisan politics. As always, we will attempt to promote social justice and contribute to the national debate in the months leading up to the election, because moving the public agenda forward and restoring progressive values is what NIF-style social change is about. By providing progressives with new tools and infrastructure that cross issue and sector lines and unite the pro-democracy camp, we hope for impact. By enabling partners who reach out to those who don’t identify as progressives on shared values and issues, we hope to change the values equation.

And by continuing to support the New Israel Fund as we move into challenging new programs, you are participating in the critical struggle for Israeli democracy and a just society. As always, thank you for all you do.