Tribune. In Israel, election results follow and resemble each other. At the very beginning, one could think that there was no available majority and that it could only be a question of a mishap, likely to occur even in the best oiled electoral systems. Since March 24, we have been through four successive electoral consultations, none of which, not even the very last, seems to shed light on a blocked horizon. It is no longer sufficient to give an explanation relating exclusively to the electoral system. In reality, such electoral results sign a serious moral crisis in this small country threatened from all sides. This division at the very heart of Jewish society, without forgetting the country’s Arab citizens, who assert themselves more and more, forces us to take a closer look at the very foundations of this state, which aspires to be both Jewish and democratic.
This choice, this horizon which seems unattainable, is of minor importance compared to the real crisis, which stems from a divorce between two pillars of this society: the politico-theological roots of this division, which is far from being blur. The Israelis are failing to achieve a stable political majority, and this borders on the – severe – existential crisis. Part of the population seems to no longer want to live with the other part, like a couple who divorce while being forced to live together.
When we say “politico-theological reasons”, we think that one (political) is opposed to the other (theological), which almost prevents us from building a common future, because what some want, others don’t want it. The debate between these two opposing sides no longer takes the form of a civilized confrontation. And language differences, more and more frequent, are worrying, even during an election period. Arguments are replaced by invective.
Coercion of religious
Three recent examples: the leader of the centrist (or left) opposition has caricatured religious parties by stigmatizing their alleged greed and their insatiable desire to monopolize public funds for their Talmudic schools. Such claims bring back sad memories to Jews around the world, not just Israel. Benny Gantz, however renowned for his British phlegm, spoke of his prime minister in very foul terms before repudiating and withdrawing such hurtful remarks. But the prize goes to the leader of the Russian-speaking party, who said, more or less, that we had to put the religious (his intimate enemies) in a wheelbarrow and go get rid of them somewhere.
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