For years, people mocked the idea that Benjamin Netanyahu just “wants to go down in history,” as if that were a ridiculous aspiration.
First, they counted the days of his term, longer than those of David Ben-Gurion. Then they downplayed the significance of the Abraham Accords – historic peace agreements with four Arab nations that shattered the old “land for peace” paradigm and emerged not in the studios of Al Jazeera or CNN, but behind closed doors in Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi, and now with Iran.
Of course, one could elegantly skip over other milestones: endless campaigns, a canceled rotation agreement, party splits, mass protests. But once you filter out the background noise, the facts remain: the two leaders most deeply etched into our recent history are the same pair whose names have become Twitter punchlines: Trump and Netanyahu.
Both were seemingly defeated on a daily basis in polls and the media, but time and again they won when it mattered – at the ballot box and in shaping the facts on the ground.
The “Just Not Bibi” and “Never Trump” movements mobilized millions – in both people and dollars – and protests echoed weekly. Still, it is those two who left their mark with achievements that will be remembered long after the culture of talkbacks and tweets fades away.
It was Trump and Netanyahu who moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, secured historic American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and brokered peace deals the Arab world once only dreamed of. They understood what some pundits forgot: history is not written in angry newspaper columns or on flashy websites – it is written through brave decisions in the face of complex realities.
True, the strike in Iran temporarily shifted public attention away from what’s consumed us since October 7, 2023. Yes, election campaigns – both Right and Left – are already in the air.
Still, we can’t ignore the painful reality: tens of thousands of citizens have yet to return to their homes (with even more displaced after Iranian missile strikes); many business owners still see no economic horizon after failing to recover from the Israel-Hamas War; reservists are exhausted from countless emergency call-ups; and in Gaza, our soldiers are still fighting as hostages rot in tunnels.
One successful operation won’t erase this reality. And the Israeli public does not forget. It remembers everything – the courage, the failures, the leadership, and the cost.
Next steps: Israeli public seeks an anchor
Yet it seems what the public craves most right now is rooted discourse: Zionism; patriotism; and yes, even that much-mocked word that we must not abandon: unity. We all need to reconnect with the moral backbone of the State of Israel. Since October 7, something has shifted.
The public isn’t looking for more empty promises or tired commentary. It’s looking for an anchor. After the collapse – a movement of rebuilding, of identity, of meaning.
The next stage is elections. However, the real question isn’t just who will run – it’s what the campaign will be about. Will we go back to the tired soundtrack of “Just Not Bibi”? Or will we finally lift our eyes and ask what kind of future we want to build here? Let’s not forget core issues like the war in Gaza, the hostages, the draft law, and fundamental questions of governance, the judicial system, and the role of the Supreme Court.
As Nobel laureate and philosopher Friedrich Hayek once said: “The case for democracy rests on the belief that the majority view may change... Democracy is above all a process of forming opinion.”
That battle of ideas has already begun.
So let’s go – on to elections.
The writer, a communications and strategy adviser, is a former spokesperson for the Bayit Yehudi Party and has managed political campaigns.