The liberal camp is tempted to play the old game

An opinion piece by Dr. Gayil Talshir calls on Israel's liberal camp to abandon traditional policy campaigning and instead tell an alternative identity story against the nationalist-racist populism of the right, using examples from Clinton and Blair.

An opinion piece by Dr. Gayil Talshir, published ahead of a meeting of the heads of the Tikvah bloc, argues that Israel's liberal camp must change its election strategy. According to her, in the age of populism, parties like Benjamin Netanyahu's win not by appealing to the center, but through a powerful and extreme identity story based on conspiracy theories, such as "betrayal from within" and "the generals' revolt" led by Gadi Eisenkot. In contrast, the liberal camp continues to court floating voters through policies like the draft law or a state commission of inquiry. Talshir calls on the bloc's leaders to tell an "alternative Israeli story" based on the values of the Declaration of Independence, liberty, justice, and equality, shifting the discourse to issues where the liberal camp wins. She cites as examples the victories of Bill Clinton in 1992 with the slogan "It's the economy, stupid" and Tony Blair in 1997 with a story of hope and education. The article notes that the judicial overhaul and the October 7 massacre created disgust with Netanyahu's and the Haredim's rule, and that none of the war goals set by Netanyahu have been achieved.

The liberal camp is tempted to play the old game