Hot Take: What Just Happened With Israel’s Elections?

There is a matter that all supporters of the democratic system tend to forget. It’s not exactly a secret, and yet it is something that sometimes seems like a secret. Here’s the gist of it: In a democracy the majority does not rule; the participating-majority rules.

Translating this truism to what just happened on Israel’s election day: Nothing changed in Israel’s demographics, not much changed in the views of Israelis, little changed in the challenges Israel faces. The public does not change its positions and inclinations from hour to hour or year to year. Changing attitudes, except in exceptional cases, is a continuous, rolling, slow process.

What changed? The participating-majority changed. Israelis who previously avoided the polling places decided to show up. Who are these Israelis? They are those with lower incomes, those who live in the periphery, those who are right wing, and the Mizrahi. And they showed up because of one man: Itamar Ben Gvir.

The outcome of Israel’s election is not yet final, but it seems as if the right triumphed and Benjamin Netanyahu is moving back to the PM’s office. What can be said about the outcome when the final result is not yet known? That a clear message was heard today from the voters. A large public is fed up with the state’s negligence of maintaining law and order. It is fed up with crime and bullying on the roads, in thieves invading farmers’ fields, of Palestinians sneaking into Israel without permits, of violence in the mixed cities, of fear in the Galilee and the Negev.

This public sent a message to the next prime minister, probably Netanyahu. The chosen carrier pigeon is Ben Gvir. This is his real role in this election. There are those who look at him suspiciously. There are those who shout “fascist” or “racist.” We can talk about Ben Gvir and his ideology. We ought to discuss it. But instead of cries of grief, it is better to listen to the message that Ben Gvir carries. Not his message, but the message of his voters, which is not necessarily the same. Ben Gvir has an agenda. His constituents have an agenda. Sometimes they are similar, and sometimes they are different. He uses voters to gain power. They used it to convey a message.

Ask: How did the right regained power in Israel? There is an easy answer. It all begins with the 2021 Arab riots across Israel. It all begins with the message that such thing have consequences. Such things would not pass.