Recently the Israeli Prime Minster announced his coalition government could not keep its majority and, in few months, on 1 November, we will have another election in Israel, the fifth election in three years.
There are many factors that have contributed to the inability of Israel to have a stable government, and many point to the nature of the election system or the presence of small political parties that are empowered beyond their political representation. Yet, in recent years, the national religious narrative has been increasingly gaining traction among the political power junction of the Israeli state. This narrative sees the state as an instrument to redeem the land from others – as it was promised to the Jews by God – and calls for Jews to create the conditions for the coming of the Messiah. It also sustains that the authority in the land needs to be Halacha, the rabbinical Jewish law.
This narrative has ignited hostility and violence in Jerusalem as it calls for Jewish control over Muslim sacred places. According to this narrative, peace and reconciliation is not desired and it is seen as working against the plan of God. Tension has also been increasingly escalating between the different segments of Jewish society that do not accept this belief, which could lead to further violence. In addition, the continued Israeli occupation not only harms Palestinians, but it also destabilises Israeli Jewish society. There is a dire need for a new narrative that address both peoples’ needs. We live in an era of exclusive narratives, and we need to create a narrative for both peoples.
