Fresh elections – ‘only way for Israel to recover’

“We still believe in a two-state solution, although right now, it doesn’t seem practical,” Yair Golan, the newly appointed leader of the Israeli Democrat Party – a combination of the Meretz and Labor parties – told a Habonim South Africa webinar on 14 July.

Golan said the Israeli government was “changing the soul of Israel, the structure of Israel, the regime of Israel to a combination of a corrupt and authoritarian state that could disintegrate Israel and disconnect it from the rest of the Jewish world”.

He told the Habonim Engaged in Dialogue webinar this was unacceptable, and the only way to change Israel’s trajectory was to stand up and fight.

“We should struggle together to save Israeli democracy because Israel as a democratic state is the most important issue, otherwise we’ll deteriorate into a messianic, authoritarian, failed state like other faith states in the region, namely Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya,” he said.

“This is the most extreme anti-democratic, anti-Jewish government Israel has ever had. It’s unacceptable,” said Golan, “We need to be on the streets, we need to put as much as possible pressure on the political system to convince the prime minister and the rest of the members of the Knesset that we need new elections right now.”

Golan insists elections are essential because without them, he cannot see a way for Israel to recover from the trauma the nation has experienced.

Although the people of Israel have been traumatised by the events of 7 October and the war, he won’t allow them to be paralysed by trauma, he said.

“We need to take the initiative, and it should be on the route to the two-state solution. But we’ll move forward most cautiously in a way that will ensure Israelis that we won’t take the risk of another attack like the attack on 7 October.

“In Israel, under good leadership, we could explain to you why we have deteriorated into the situation we are in, in which we have been perceived as weak by our neighbours,” said Golan, “We could explain that the minute you try to destroy Israeli democracy, you start diminishing Israeli cohesiveness. When you lose cohesiveness, you show weakness to the rest of the region. And in our neighbourhood, the minute you show weakness, someone will exploit it.”

Golan also believes that the government hasn’t been handling the trauma of Israelis correctly. “Right now, the Israeli government isn’t willing to show compassion and empathy to Israeli citizens. In many cases, if you cannot do something to help and it’s not practical, at least you can show empathy.”

Golan said that even though the Israel Defense Forces had made great strides in its military operation in Gaza, succeeding in destroying Hamas’s operational activity, it was unrealistic to carry on fighting until every last terrorist is found as that could take years.

“I fought Hamas in Judea and Samaria from 2000 to 2007. We still have Hamas activity in Judea and Samaria,” Golan said. “It didn’t vanish entirely. What’s needed now is to keep going with this military pressure. But we also need to reach a hostage deal as soon as possible.”

A hostage deal wasn’t just about the lives of 120 hostages and their families, he said. “It’s much more than that. It’s about the solidarity of the Jewish people. It’s about the solidarity of all Israeli citizens. It’s about, you know, the soul of Israel.

“We cannot leave this issue in the hands of crazy people with a messianic approach, like Benjamin Netanyahu, who is willing to sacrifice 120 people on behalf of his political destiny.”

Golan said the sooner a hostage deal was reached, the sooner a temporary ceasefire could be enacted both in the south and the north so that Israel could hold elections and a new coalition government could be formed.

“All political parties could be in this coalition except those who are denying the very basic principles of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish state, and at the same time, a free, egalitarian, democratic state.”

Golan also said that when the war was over, there needed to be an alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “It’s not enough to fight Hamas. We need to build an alternative. It should be some sort of a regional effort combining the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and other nations like Morocco, with strong backing from the United States and maybe NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] members to come to the Gaza Strip with a presence like the Palestinian Authority.

“Without it, we won’t be able to move forward. And the meaning of that is that, yes, there’s a positive prospect for doing something positive with the Palestinians,” said Golan, “It’s wrong to think that all Palestinians are like Hamas.

“We cannot reconcile with the Iranians. We cannot reconcile with the Hezbollah or Shia militias in Syria and Iraq, or the Houthis in Yemen. We have nothing to discuss with them. But there’s a possibility for reconciliation with the Palestinians – not all of them, but some of them. We need to take full advantage of that possible process with the Palestinians in order to become more capable, to cope with the more severe threat imposed on Israel by the Iranian front.

“We live in a critical era that demands great deeds of courageous people,” Golan said. “I’m sure we’ll be able to co-operate and work together to save Israel and the Jewish people.”