Netanyahu's departure will represent an image of victory for Israeli society

By Myron Isaacson

Politicians and commentators these days talk a lot about our need for an image of victory in this fateful war in Gaza, and about the differences regarding the characteristics of that image, and I want here to propose, as an independent addition to this dialogue, the issue of the image of moral victory for Israeli society, which will herald the presence of buds. The internal revolution, which we hope will end successfully, and without loss of life.

We can call this picture “the end of the era of mutually assured annihilation,” a term whose origins go back to the terrifying arms race that took place between the United States and the Soviet Union. Four years after dropping the atomic bomb on Japan in the summer of 1945, the Soviet Union conducted a nuclear test, and since then the two superpowers have been subject to a constant balance of terror: the assumption and hope were that one would not launch a nuclear attack on the other, because that would mean a response. A counterattack will destroy everyone.

In contrast, Israeli society, which witnessed polarized processes over the past years, deteriorated in the last months before the Gaza war, into a psychological state similar to what happened between the Russians and the Americans. The conscious and unconscious assumption of both Israeli camps was that the other side intended to erase them. Neither changing it, nor reforming it, but erasing its basic values. I do not know whether this destructive process will stop, even if we are still at a stage that allows us to “return the missiles to their resting places.” Therefore, the picture of victory for the post-war phase in Gaza must be the absolute opposite of the potential explosion that I spoke about.

What would that image be? It is understood that our ambition for unity is not enough, as there are those who are terrified that their existential interests will be harmed simply by calling for unity. It seems to me that the matter must be related to some people abandoning their obsessive attachment to power. Many people felt that they fit into any official position available. Some of them, even those who are overflowing with self-confidence, have learned from their personal experiences how difficult it is to be able to reach a rational and balanced position in complex national situations.

The unlimited pursuit of power and control can receive a certain balance from the central political figure of recent decades in Israel, namely Prime Minister Netanyahu. The method that Netanyahu will choose to end his role in public life will have the greatest impact on the new social image that will replace the vision of mutual annihilation. He is the one who must stop the process of destruction, even if he believes he is right.

This man will have to overcome his desires and draw his own boundaries between legitimate political ambitions and treating office as the highest value. In order to take such a step, he must be assisted by all judicial and political bodies who will be required to act with composure and responsibility. Netanyahu must announce that he will regularly pass the leadership of the government to a Likud member who is chosen for this position, so that he can assume the position of prime minister until an agreed upon date for early elections in the Knesset. Then all judicial files directed against the outgoing Prime Minister must be closed, and Netanyahu announces, in a written message, that out of concern for his people and his country, he will resign from political life without returning, and in doing so he seeks to mark the beginning of a new era of leadership priorities and responsibility.

I realize that many people will deal with such an announcement with a lot of sarcasm and criticism, and unfortunately, they have something to base their sarcasm and criticism on. But we are all now required to exercise extraordinary restraint, which must express, even if only a little, our appreciation for the IDF soldiers who sacrifice their lives in the war. In this war, in this founding event in our history, we can achieve an image of our victory over processes of internal destruction, and perhaps in its aftermath, we can see a second image of victory represented by broad national consensus on the fundamental issues over which Israeli society is divided, such as issues of religion. The state, the Palestinian issue, recruitment to the army, and the judicial system.