The 26th Knesset will be characterized by a human statistic that may be unprecedented in world history. One in every ten members of Knesset will be a member of a bereaved family from the most recent war.
Gadi Eisenkot, potentially a future prime minister, lost his son. Joining him in realistic positions on the electoral list are Shira Shapira, who lost her son Aner in a roadside bomb shelter near Re’im, and Nir Hajbi, whose son Yehonatan was murdered two kilometers west of there, at virtually the same time. Also on the list is Shai Fisher, whose grandmother and uncle were murdered in Kfar Yuval by Hezbollah fire.
Tali Gvili of Likud is the mother of Ran, a hero of the battle that took place five minutes away in Alumim, and the last hostage to be returned from Gaza.
On the Yisrael Beiteinu list are Rafi Ben-Shitrit, whose son fell on October 7, and Sharon Sharabi, whose brother Yossi was murdered in Hamas captivity.
The “Together” party list includes Michal Nagari-Hirsch, the mother of Roi, who fell defending Be’eri on October 7.
Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich is the cousin of Amishar Ben David, who fell in Gaza. Number two on his list is Moshe Feiglin, the grandfather of Yair Levin, who fell in Gaza.
Omri Ronen of the Democrats is the grandson of Nira Ronen, who was murdered in Kfar Aza.
And that is without even counting bereaved siblings such as Benjamin Netanyahu (whose brother Yoni fell during Operation Entebbe), Elisaf Peretz (brother of Uriel and Eliraz, both of whom fell during their military service), and Limor Son Har-Melech, whose husband Shuli was murdered in a terrorist attack before her eyes.
Together with the parent of a former hostage (Tzvika Mor), a wounded war veteran (Elisha Medan), and numerous others who have contributed to society, this is precisely the kind of Knesset we supposedly wished for.
According to the polls, 60 members of Knesset will be replaced. Half the parliament will be brand new—and yet we find ourselves standing in the same dead-end alley.
We were promised a nasty, violent, and fateful election campaign. Instead, we got a boring campaign that barely exists.
After a brainstorming exercise that we taxpayers financed to the tune of hundreds of millions of shekels, one camp is recycling the slogan “Bibi or Tibi,” while the other thought long and hard before concluding that “Anyone but Bibi” was the most effective message.
Perhaps this has something to do with the lack of a decisive outcome, or perhaps with the fact that the Knesset members are new but the molds into which they have been cast are very old.
Perhaps it has something to do with digital changes.
Political rallies gave way to street billboards, which were replaced by television commercials, which in turn migrated to internet banners. In this election, everything is conducted through paid, targeted advertising on social media.
There is almost no trace of it in the public sphere—only in the pockets of our jeans.
Something similar happened in the previous election, which was no less boring and nevertheless ended with an exceptionally high voter turnout.
The story of the week, therefore, may be hiding in the jeans pockets of voters in the Triangle region.
According to internal polls conducted by parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Arab voter turnout is surging.
In one of these polls, it is approaching 70 percent—a 30-year record.
These figures are a double-edged sword, creating an extremely difficult dilemma for opposition parties and voter-mobilization campaigns.
Such a high turnout would greatly help push the parties of Ofer Winter and Yaron Zelekha below the electoral threshold and widen the gap with Likud.
On the other hand, it would further diminish the chances of forming a government.
No one is even talking anymore about a 61-seat coalition. But with only 52 seats for the anti-Netanyahu bloc, it would be almost impossible to establish even a temporary minority government. > >