Analyst says 20% of Israeli campaigns called their vote history's most fateful
Kushmaro argues that recurring high-stakes rhetoric turns routine political losses into existential crises, complicating the transfer of power since 2021.
By Marina Weber ·
Danny Kushmaro, a political analyst, states that one in five recent Israeli campaigns has labeled its vote the most fateful in the nation's history. In his latest analysis, Kushmaro warns against treating the upcoming election as uniquely decisive compared to previous contests. He notes that the phrase 'Israel's most important elections' has become a standard refrain during the current campaign cycle.
Kushmaro argues that this rhetoric transforms standard political competition into an existential battle. When candidates frame a vote as the most critical event ever, defeat is no longer viewed as a temporary setback. Instead, the loss sounds like a national crisis that the country cannot survive, making it harder for the losing side to accept the result.
This pattern of high-stakes claims has intensified since Naftali Bennett formed his government in 2021. Before that government was sworn in, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described its formation as 'the greatest election fraud.' Netanyahu referred to broken campaign promises rather than stolen ballots, but the language cast the new administration as illegitimate despite its formation through the standard parliamentary process.
The opposition to the Bennett-led coalition worked to dismantle the government from the start. In the Knesset, where the coalition held a slim majority, opposition members sometimes voted against legislation they supported to weaken the administration. In May 2022, Likud MK Miri Regev defended voting against measures benefiting soldiers and vulnerable groups, stating that the primary goal was to topple the coalition.
After Netanyahu won the 2022 election and formed a hard-right government, the dynamic shifted. Yair Lapid conceded the election and arranged an orderly handover. However, as opposition to the judicial overhaul grew, the language of illegitimacy returned. In April 2023, Yuval Diskin, the former head of the Shin Bet, told a crowd in Tel Aviv that the government was morally illegitimate due to its 'appalling composition and reprehensible actions,' despite being elected legally.
Kushmaro points to this history to caution voters and politicians. He suggests that the assumption that the current vote is more important than all those that came before is unwise. The recurring use of historic stakes language complicates the question of whether the losing side will grant the other side a chance to govern.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
