Over more than a thousand days of war, policy makers and analysts have asked repeatedly: What is the plan for the “day after” – in Iran, in Lebanon, and especially in Gaza? Now, with elections in full swing, it’s time for Israelis to apply that very question to Israel itself.
On October 27, Israelis will go to the polls in Israel’s first post-war election. Elections are always “fateful,” “historic,” and “unprecedented.” But this one is pivotal indeed, coming on the heels of Israel’s longest war and several years of acute instability and growing internal divisions over the country’s identity, leadership, and future.
If Israel is to thrive and prosper for decades to come, its leaders must articulate a bold new vision for the country that encompasses its twin identities as the nation state of the Jewish people and a thriving liberal democracy.
It may be difficult for some to appreciate, but Israelis are still processing October 7. National security will always be paramount, but there is also a growing understanding that Israel’s security is intimately bound up in the strength of its democracy.
Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this phenomenon in recent months has been the eruption of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protests over efforts to draft young haredi men into a badly overstretched IDF and the parallel efforts of the current coalition to pass a law that would exempt them from service.
Who will defend Israel in the future?
There is no doubt that Israel will continue to need a powerful, highly sophisticated army for the foreseeable future. But Israelis should ask themselves: Who will supply the highly trained soldiers needed to protect the country’s borders?
How can we be sure they will be led into battle, when necessary, by responsible commanders and principled statesmen? What education system will produce the innovators tasked with building the anti-missile defense systems of the future?
The qualitative edge that has sustained Israel in its conflicts with vastly more numerous enemies has not been territory or natural resources, but people. Talent, ingenuity, and commitment to the national project are the foundational building blocks of the country’s national security.
This qualitative edge is in danger after years in which leaders perpetually avoided hard decisions and too often prioritized political expediency over the long-term good of the country.
Israel’s newly elected leaders will have their work cut out for them. On the external front, they must find creative ways to use the country’s military and economic advantages to solidify Israel’s standing in the region, expanding the Abraham Accords to additional Muslim countries.
They will need to reimagine Israel’s relationship with its Palestinian neighbors, both in Gaza and the West Bank, and sketch a new vision for secure coexistence rooted in the recognition that the current trajectory is not sustainable. They will also clearly need to develop a comprehensive strategy for winning back America, including its blue and red flanks.
Internally, among other urgent tasks, Israel’s leaders will need to reform a broken and outmoded electoral system, put in place new budgetary priorities to sustain stability and growth, find ways to combat social media-induced polarization in the age of AI, and radically rebuild the civil service to win back public trust and deliver better services effectively and efficiently.
Addressing Israel's unfinished domestic challenges
Above all else, Israel’s leadership must be laser-focused on correcting two “original sins” committed by Israel’s founders in 1948: the failure to pass a constitution and a bill of rights, and the failure to insist on the equality of the country’s ultra-Orthodox population before the law.
To start with the second issue: since the outbreak of the war, a surprising degree of left-to-right consensus has emerged about policy towards the ultra-Orthodox minority. The haredi community, for the most part, has remained indifferent to the price paid by their compatriots in this painfully bloody war.
Worse, haredi leaders have called on their followers not to enlist in the IDF and continue to block a core curriculum that would allow their students to become productive members of the knowledge economy and civil society.
Israel’s haredi community currently makes up 14% of the population but is growing at a rate of 4.2% per year. 57% of the community is under the age of 20, while only 50% of adult men work.
The IDF urgently needs 10,000 soldiers to fill in the ranks of those killed or injured in battle; 100,000 haredi men of draft age are unwilling to serve.
The bottom line is simple: non-haredi Israelis can no longer afford to subsidize or defend this fast-growing segment of the population. Going forward, any government subsidies must be provided on an equal basis and as an incentive for national service, adherence to national educational standards, and joining the workforce.
This will require bold leadership.
The case for a constitution
If David Ben-Gurion can be forgiven for failing to foresee the explosive growth of haredi autonomy, it is harder to pardon him for the foregoing passage of a constitution.
The consequences of that indecision became apparent in early 2023 when an elected government sought to exploit the country’s weak democratic foundations to consolidate political power in the hands of the executive branch, sparking months of protests and bringing the country, in the words of President Isaac Herzog, to the brink of “a real civil war.”
The damage done by the architects of the judicial overhaul must first be undone before our leaders can get to work building a broad consensus for lasting change in the form of a new constitutional framework that will strengthen the separation of powers and protect the civil liberties of all Israelis.
Israel’s ability to nurture and retain the next generation of scientists, entrepreneurs and hi-tech soldiers depends to a large extent on the strength of the democracy that will be rebuilt in the coming years. A system with fair, agreed-upon “rules of the game” will help ensure that all Israelis remain committed to their country’s future.
A vision for Israel's future
This is what US President Abraham Lincoln defined as a government “for the people and by the people.”
After three and a half years of division and war, Israel is at a crossroads. In my military reserve duty, I oversee the selection process for recruits to the IDF’s special forces units. Every time, I am amazed anew at these patriotic young men and women who are willing to sacrifice everything for their country.
But these young Israelis, who represent the future of the country, also demand leadership willing to put partisan politics and personal interests aside and lead a responsible conversation about our nation’s future.
We can only hope the leaders elected this fall will prove equal to the challenge.
The writer is the president of the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in Jerusalem. He previously served as a member of the Knesset.