In a slip of the tongue, President Isaac Herzog had mistakenly vowed to “keep (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu united” instead of “keep Israel united” in 2015.
He now seems to mistake “Israeli unity” for “Jewish unity” in his consultation with the parties to form a government, thereby saving Netanyahu instead of Israel.
In a gloomy video at the end of Shabbat, right before Herzog appointed Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a government, Netanyahu forcefully called for “national unity” and the rejection of a government supported by “terror supporters.”
He did not call for unity when he had a majority, as in 2022, when he preferred a “Full right-wing government.”
Unity is a way for him to stay in power after losing in the last election, by changing the playing field from an Israeli one to a Jewish one, delegitimizing the Arab votes, and taking into account only the Jewish ones.
In this Jewish playing field, Netanyahu's camp is the biggest, with him at the top.
The maneuver is as transparent as it is logical for a politician who has built his entire career on racism, delegitimization, and fear of Israel’s Arab citizens, from “Netanyahu is good for the Jews” in 1996 to “The Arabs are coming out in droves” in 2015.
It is more surprising to see Herzog somewhat complicit in Netanyahu’s maneuver by calling for unity as well.
It is especially disappointing after the campaign of fake news against the Arab vote orchestrated before, during, and after the elections by Netanyahu’s Likud party, with the help of an obedient Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israeli “journalists” who disseminated these lies under the pretext of just “asking some questions,” as conspiracy theorists do.
When Herzog lectures the Democrats’ delegation about their rejection of Netanyahu and calls for “unity,” he actually means “Jewish unity,” not “Israeli unity.”
This is very troubling for a man who is supposed to be the president of all Israelis, not only the Jewish ones.
Herzog is not suspected of any racism or willingness to delegitimize the Arabs, and he gracefully welcomed the Arab parties at the President’s Residence. He also had some strong words about full equality and criticized the bogus investigation about Arab “fraud” to delegitimize the vote.
In other words, Herzog is a decent man who wants to soothe the divisions in Israeli society. Precisely because of these good intentions, he should understand that buying Netanyahu’s nonsense unity narrative is not what Israel needs right now, but instead his full repudiation.
“Unity” with Likud, until Netanyahu leaves the political scene, is a non-starter, given how divisive he has been for Israeli society and how he has lied time and again to disband unity governments each time they stopped being useful to him.
Real unity in Israel
Herzog has rightly pointed to the dangers of Israel’s isolation, and he probably knows that Netanyahu is a major hurdle to the reset of the Israel-US relationship, badly damaged by his neglect of the Democratic Party and his full embrace of US President Donald Trump, especially after the latest midterms’ blue wave.
He’s also probably aware that the best potential hasbara (public diplomacy) to debunk the “apartheid” narrative in the West, major participation of the Arabs in the electoral process, is ruined by Netanyahu’s effort to delegitimize it.
The president’s role is honorific most of the time, but it bears a special weight during the formation of a government.
Herzog can either help the panicked ultimate divider-in-chief with a fake unity among Jewish Israelis, or push for a real unity among all Israelis.
The writer, who was born and raised in France, is the correspondent of French Jewish radio, Radio J, and of the French paper librejournal.fr in the US, where he has been living for 16 years. He also holds US and Israeli citizenship. The opinions expressed are his own.