The next government must develop a clear plan for Gaza that does not include reconstruction and instead addresses the ideology that enabled Hamas to attack Israel, Israeli public diplomat Einat Wilf told The Jerusalem Post, laying out her "day after" vision.
Wilf, a former Labor MK, is running for the Knesset in the third slot on the new People of Israel party list, led by chairman Yoaz Hendel.
The right-wing party has called for a broad Zionist government without extremists to be formed after the elections, stating that it does not belong to either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc or the opposition bloc seeking to replace the premier.
In a recent interview with the Post, Wilf spoke about her "day-after plan," the party’s political red lines, and the importance of repairing Israel’s relationship with the diaspora after the October 7 Hamas massacre in 2023.
Explaining what she called her "guiding principles" regarding Gaza, Wilf said that "Israel should always couple a positive vision with harsh steps on the ground that are often needed to realize that vision."
Government should focus on ensuring Gaza will not be a threat
"In Gaza, Israel should take what the Board of Peace says and what the 20-point plan says, and where it says at the beginning: Gaza will not be a threat."
Wilf said she would like to see the country's next government make clear that this does not simply mean removing Hamas's weapons.
Rather, she said, the goal should be a larger shift in the ideology of Gaza's population.
"It means that the ideology of the people of Gaza will finally be one of people who want to build for themselves, rather than destroy what the Jews have built."
"It means disarming Hamas from its ideological backing. I would like to first put that on the table as the guiding principle for Israeli policy and then say: what needs to happen in Gaza is not yet reconstruction."
“Reconstruction you do for a people who actually want to reconstruct," Wilf explained.
"But I do agree that Israel has a responsibility not to fall into that bigotry - because we fall. We fall under the law, too," she added.
She said that Israel was under the perception that Palestinians "can't deceive us, that we don't need to take them seriously as an existential threat, that we can buy them like a toddler with a little bit more of money."
"The notion of respecting them as a rival, as an enemy, but also people capable of change is something that...we have the responsibility to stop treating them as infants," Wilf said.
Joining the only party not assigned to a bloc
Hendel’s party was formed through an alliance with Yaron Zelekha, an Israeli economist who heads the New Economic Party.
The two said they had agreed on a set of basic principles, including joining only a Zionist government and demanding that a universal conscription law be passed before a government is formed.
Speaking about her decision to join Hendel’s party, Wilf said the believes it's important not to divide Israel's political map into different blocs.
“[Hendel's party] is the only party that is currently not assigned to any bloc, and is very much committed to hopefully ending this very toxic bloc arrangement and discourse that we've had in our politics," she said.
Speaking on her political mission, Wilf said she joined forces with the reservists to bring "the strongest commitment to ensuring that all Israelis serve their country, that those who serve more, such as the reservists, get more."
"The Economics Party [led by Zelekha] is bringing a real commitment to bringing down the cost of living, and kind of removing many of the obstacles on the path."
“Within that list, I bring all the things that I've been working on."
"I think I am absolutely unique in understanding the magnitude of what we're facing around the world, not just Israel, but the Jewish people at large," she said.
Wilf also explained that she believed the party could be a home for voters who were dissatisfied with the current government and felt as though they were categorized as “homeless” politically.
Regarding the party’s red lines to joining a coalition, she explained that the party was "coming with clear principles:[mandatory] service for all, with clear economic prices to pay."
Wilf explained that she believed voters from English, Russian, and French-speaking communities could find a political home in the party.
"Some of the biggest points of pain for Israelis today are the Israelis who feel that they are serving when others are not," she said.
"Despite the fact that they serve and give so much, they live in a country that is very expensive."
"And when they finally manage to go abroad, they have to deal with a kind of hatred and a permission structure that people feel that they're in the right to attack Israelis, to yell at Israelis," she said.
"They also know and feel that that arena has been abandoned. So I think we're addressing some of the biggest pain points today in Israel."
Wilf said her ideal position in the next government would be foreign minister.
However, even if she were not to receive that portfolio, she said she would make it her "life's work to reach out to allies, to give them the language, the words, the understanding of what we are facing, and to work with the Board of Peace to work with our government.”
Wilf said that she believed Jews in Diaspora felt like they weren’t properly taken care of during the government’s term and after the October 7 Hamas attacks.
"In many ways, I think a lot of Jews felt that they were not cared for."
"So at the minimum, bring back the idea that the person who is in charge on behalf of the government of the State of Israel for the connection with the Jewish people," Wilf added.