Just before the elections - the question every camp in Israel must ask | Liora Minka

Liora Minka calls for an honest examination of the political discourse ahead of the elections, using the Days of Awe as an opportunity for soul-searching. She distinguishes between a dispute 'for the sake of heaven' and a self-serving dispute, demanding personal and public courage to admit the failures of the writer's political camp, without fear that the admission will be seen as betrayal.

Liora Minka, in an opinion column in Maariv, calls for an honest examination of Israeli political discourse ahead of the elections, using the Days of Awe as an opportunity for soul-searching. She notes that this year we entered the High Holy Days with a public atmosphere saturated with political tensions, and that the proximity to the elections affects what is happening. Minka recalls the stormy Knesset term and the government that served on October 7, and has since been associated with achievements as well as failures in the education, welfare, transportation, construction, and public diplomacy systems. She warns against the language of clichés like 'the duty of unity' and 'baseless love,' which she says serve as a smokescreen hiding real complexities. Minka demands personal and public courage to also admit what our side did wrong, without fear that the admission will be seen as betrayal of the camp. She distinguishes between a dispute 'for the sake of heaven,' that of Hillel and Shammai, and a dispute 'not for the sake of heaven,' that of Korah and his congregation, and determines that the difference is not in the intensity of the argument but in its motives. The overall tone is a call to turn the dispute into a worthy one, while purifying oneself from improper intentions that take over the discourse.