A Turning Point: The Challenges Ahead of the Knesset’s Summer Recess

Israel's top policymakers and experts from across the political spectrum convened at an IDI conference to discuss key policy issues ahead of Knesset summer recess, featuring elected officials from across the political spectrum, civil servants, IDI experts, and representative from different sectors in Israeli society. Some of the most important and heated issues were debated, including the dismissal of government officials, freedom of speech and protest, and equality of service in the IDF.

Selection of quotes from the conference:

Blue and White Party Chair MK Benny Gantz, the former IDF Chief of Staff and Defense Minister, lamented the ongoing failure to impose meaningful penalties against draft dodgers: “It cannot be that Israeli citizens do not serve in one form or another, and we continue with institutional sanctions on those who do not serve while ignoring the use of penalties on the individual. What does that mean? In the town of Be’er Tuvia, they’ll summon 3,000 recruits, and if they don’t enlist, then we cut the council’s budget? Does that sound reasonable to you? There are things we don’t play games with".

Later, arguing that we must move away from the current coalition-opposition split and towards a governing bloc based on broad consensus, MK Gantz said:  "I would argue that if there is a bloc-based resolution like we have now - with either side of the political divide winning - I know the turmoil it will cause within Israel. That’s why I think we need to strive for agreements—for a government of 80 Knesset members who can agree among themselves. There will be fringes that we will need to respect—but also isolate. That’s where I’m focusing our efforts".

MK Avigdor Liberman, Chair of Yisrael Beitenu, a former Defense and Finance Minister, discussed the planned dismissal of Yuli Edelstein as head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: "The game is rigged. Something unprecedented is being done: They are dismissing the chair of the most important committee in the Knesset. Not because of poor performance, and not because of a change in government, but because he is acting contrary to their political position. But as the committee chair, he must reflect the security interest. The IDF is lacking 12,000 combat soldiers, and he is currently acting in accordance with the security interest and for that, he is being dismissed".

Chair of the Ra'am Party MK Mansour Abbas emphasized that political partnerships are central for Ra'am: "A key debate in Arab society is how to move from a stage of [political] protest to a stage of influence. The Ra’am Party says that influence is not enough; we want partnership. Because the realization of our citizenship in Israel is the core dispute".

Later, MK Abbas emphasized that Jewish-Arab relations are stronger than we think: “Jewish and Arab citizens constantly give you strength and tell you to keep going. I’ll surprise you—even people who declare they are not on my political side, from the right, say: ‘Your path is right. Keep going and bring results.’ This allows me to believe that Israeli society as a whole is more complex than we thought. The fabric of relations between Arabs and Jews is stronger than we think. And the proof is the event we are in now—all that has happened from October 7 until today has proven that there is civic responsibility in Arab society, adherence to the law, and the pain felt by Arab Israelis, both as citizens and as Arabs. That is why I have one path—and that is to believe that we will succeed in healing the wounds in various aspects".

MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) also called for a new way of thinking about political partnerships, arguing that Arab Israelis shouldn't be the only political bloc capable of forming a joint list to strengthen the left and center: "Everyone talks about the next elections and expects the Arab public to go vote for a Joint List—no matter what—because that’s an instrumental approach that sees Arabs as the backup force for the left and center in elections…Why don’t the left and center know how to form a joint list? Why should it be a clear political path, and the Arabs need to go in together to save the situation?"

Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yair Golan, Chair of the Democrats and a former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, discussed the critical national security issues the country is facing: "It’s frustrating that what we believe are necessary steps—truthfully simple and clear—just aren’t happening. We need to reach a long-term ceasefire, secure the release of all the hostages in one phase, and begin building, inside the Gaza Strip and with many partners, an alternative government to Hamas. We are in an absurd situation where the entity sustaining Hamas rule is the government of Israel".

Cmdr. (Ret.) Ami Eshed, former Chief of Tel Aviv District at the Israel Police, discussed the role of police during public protests and how the perception of policing has changed in recent years: "The public no longer believes the police act fairly or treat everyone equally. This trust is critical—for democratic functioning and for police effectiveness". He continued, "During my time, I don’t think there were fewer arrests or less use of water cannons or stun grenades. Why didn’t the public complain about those tools then? Because they believed that when we used them, it was because we had no other choice. Today’s protests are more violent—because the leadership permits it".

Israel Cohen, political commentator for the Kol Barama media outlet made an argument shared by a broad section of the Haredi public, saying: "The situation that has arisen—where there is no law [exempting Haredim from service because] Torah study is their profession—will not lead to Haredi enlistment. In fact, this law, which is being called the 'Draft-Dodging Law', speaks of 10,000 who will enlist in the first two years. There is no scenario in which 80,000 can be drafted by force. It is actually the war and the debate over the law that have led to extremism—both from the secular side and from the Haredi side".

Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, Director of IDI's Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society, sees things quite differently: "The way the Haredi public and leadership expresses themselves, they’re not only taking the state from me, and not only taking our children, God forbid, but they’re also taking the Torah from us. The way the Haredi public interprets the Torah is also taking the Torah from us. My Torah is one in which, in a ‘milchemet mitzvah’ (a war by commandment), people show up. A Torah of ‘helping Israel in a time of war, and not standing idly by the blood of your fellow Israeli.’ And when they take the Torah and say: ‘I will study Torah and I’ll also take my child to the doctor when he is sick, but when it comes to the military—I won’t go'—that’s not credible".

Yesh Atid MK Meirav Cohen called attention to the pipeline that leads Haredim not to integrate in society: "We cannot continue to publicly fund an educational system that teaches not to enlist; teaches not to integrate into society, but teaches to separate from the public. It is inconceivable that we teach Haredim from a young age through adulthood not to enlist, not to participate, and then find ourselves surprised that at age 18 they don’t enlist in the military".