Israeli election campaigns must move past political gimmicks to tackle critical issues - editorial

With two weeks to go, let’s hear how the parties are going to deal with education, transportation, the environment, the unequal IDF draft, the worrying wave of emigration, and the West Bank.

As the campaigns before the fateful October 27 elections head into their final two weeks, the “shtickim” and “trickim” – as Israelis refer to the shtick and tricks that typify every election and the debate in this one until now – need to stop.

The coalition has plastered billboards and issued online clips warning of “Yamin or Falestine” – a campaign without any attempt to hide its racist overtones that shows Yashar leader and primary contender Gad Eisenkot with the likes of Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi peering out from behind his broad shoulders in a crass attempt to say that if Eisenkot becomes prime minister, he will form a coalition with Abbas’s Ra’am Party.

The Shinui (Change) bloc has nonstop focused on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the lead-up and aftermath of the October 7 massacre at the expense of outlining and detailing their platforms and plans once they’re in power (save for the B’Yachad party, which has published comprehensive programs for each ministry).

The lack of real content is a major problem for such a crucial election, but more than that, Israeli election campaigns often rely on manufactured crises and last-minute disclosures.

Foremost is the one that could potentially postpone the election – a return to war with Iran. According to an Axios report on Wednesday, Netanyahu spoke to US President Donald Trump last week to discuss the possibility of a renewed military campaign that could target Iran’s nuclear and military sites, with Netanyahu citing alleged Iranian efforts to rebuild nuclear capacity as the reason for launching new strikes.

Renewed fighting could lead to postponement of elections

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir has warned that renewed fighting before the Israeli elections could delay them. For his part, Trump has said he would not make that decision until after the US November midterms.

We, the voters, without the information, of course, have no way of knowing whether Iran’s reported moves pose an immediate threat that would require action within the next two weeks.

But the prime minister has built his campaign and garnered loyalty among his supporters by portraying himself as the strong man who saved Israel post-October 7 against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. An attack and an election delay would certainly bolster that image.

Of course, on the other side, the pre-October 7 timeline and its immediate aftermath are what is driving the opposition. And they’re getting ammunition from timely disclosures almost daily.

Netanyahu’s former military secretary Avi Gil last week alleged that the premier presented an incomplete account of the events surrounding Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

In a splash on Israel Hayom and Channel 12, Gil alleged that Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzahi Braverman, sought to alter an official record from that morning by changing the time Netanyahu first received an update on the October 7 Hamas invasion via phone call from Gil from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m.

Major defamation lawsuit against Netanyahu by Shin Bet's Ronen Bar 

Adding to the flame is Wednesday’s bombshell: a NIS 3 million defamation lawsuit filed by former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar against Netanyahu, alleging that the premier falsely accused him of knowing in advance about the October 7 attack and deliberately withholding that information.

Despite the seriousness of the accusations by Gil and Bar, the timing of the disclosure, less than three weeks before the elections, is suspect. Both Gil and Bar said they remained silent until now, hoping to testify before a state commission of inquiry that Netanyahu has refused to authorize.

But either Gil’s or Bar’s disclosure could have come two weeks ago, after voters went to the polls. These, along with the slew of other accusations that Netanyahu was warned of October 7 by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, coming so close to the elections, can only be seen as creating an artificial crisis.

Instead, with two weeks to go, let’s hear how the parties are going to deal with education, transportation, the environment, the unequal IDF draft, the worrying wave of emigration, the future of the West Bank, and the scourge of settler violence, among others.

These elections are too critical to the country’s future for the final two weeks to focus on sensational headlines instead of the issues the country faces.