Kushmaro: Israel's 2026 Vote Is Not Historically Unique

Danny Kushmaro challenges the prevailing narrative that Israel's upcoming vote is the most critical in the nation's history. While the election segment of his nightly broadcast has repeatedly labeled the contest as the most fateful, Kushmaro argues that this specific framing is an unwise assumption. He advises against romanticizing the current moment as superior to all previous political events.

The campaign has been dominated by the refrain of "Israel's most important elections." However, Kushmaro contends that every election feels fateful to the participants at the time. He suggests that distinguishing this specific vote from others requires a broader perspective that the current rhetoric lacks.

The danger of this language lies in its ability to transform standard political battles into existential wars. By framing the choice between pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs as a matter of national survival, the stakes are raised beyond ordinary politics. Defeat becomes less of a correctable setback and more of an event the country cannot survive, which complicates the process of accepting the outcome.

This difficulty in accepting results has become a recurring theme since Naftali Bennett formed his government in 2021. Before that administration was even sworn in, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described its formation as the greatest election fraud. Although he intended the phrase to refer to broken campaign promises rather than stolen ballots, the language cast a legitimate parliamentary outcome as illegitimate.

The opposition responded by working tirelessly to topple Bennett's government, leveraging its slim majority in the Knesset. In May 2022, Likud MK Miri Regev defended voting against legislation that benefited soldiers and vulnerable groups, stating that the overriding objective was to weaken the coalition. The government spent much of its short tenure fighting for survival in these legislative battles.

When Netanyahu won the 2022 election and formed a hard-right government, the dynamic shifted. Yair Lapid conceded the defeat and arranged an orderly handover. However, as opposition to the judicial overhaul brought large crowds into the streets, the language of illegitimacy resurfaced. At a massive demonstration in Tel Aviv in April 2023, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin stated that while the government had been elected legally, it was morally illegitimate due to its appalling composition and reprehensible actions.