Analyst urges calm before Israel's October vote

Political commentators have saturated the airwaves with a specific phrase in recent days. They describe the ballot scheduled for Tuesday as the most fateful in the nation's history. Danny Kushmaro, a columnist for Kohelet, contends this framing is dangerous. He argues that treating the current contest as uniquely existential warps the political landscape and makes it harder for losers to accept defeat.

The pattern of high-stakes rhetoric is not new to Israeli politics. Since Naftali Bennett formed his government in 2021, the country has faced friction beyond simple governance. The core struggle has been whether the losing side would allow the winning side to rule without protest.

Netanyahu branded the formation of the Bennett government as the greatest election fraud shortly before it was sworn in. He referred to broken campaign promises rather than stolen ballots, yet the message cast doubt on the legitimacy of the new cabinet. The opposition worked to dismantle the Bennett coalition, which held a slim majority in the Knesset. In May 2022, Likud MK Miri Regev explained that her party sometimes voted against legislation it supported, such as measures for soldiers and vulnerable groups, to weaken the coalition and top it.

Netanyahu won the 2022 election and formed a hard-right government. Yair Lapid conceded the result and arranged an orderly handover. However, as opposition to the judicial overhaul grew, the language of illegitimacy returned. At a massive demonstration in Tel Aviv in April 2023, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin stated that the government was morally illegitimate due to its composition and actions, despite being elected legally.

Kushmaro warns that calling the 2026 vote the most important ever turns standard political competition into an existential war between pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs. When an election is framed as a survival battle, a loss feels less like a correctable setback and more like a national crisis. This perspective can make accepting the outcome more difficult for voters on both sides.

The upcoming vote will take place on Tuesday. Campaigns on all sides have used the phrase most fateful or most important in their messaging. Kushmaro advises against romanticizing the current moment or assuming it carries more weight than previous ballots. He suggests that perspective is needed to view the election as a standard democratic process rather than a historical turning point.

Knesset members and party leaders will continue to use this rhetoric in the days leading up to the vote. The debate over the ballot's significance has become a central theme of the campaign. Kushmaro's analysis adds a layer of caution to the discourse, urging voters to consider the long-term implications of framing a single election as uniquely decisive for the state's survival.