Unity is a path; it must not be reduced to declarations or negotiated behind closed doors. This is an appeal to the prime minister, MK Gadi Eisenkot and MK Naftali Bennett. Mr. Prime Minister,
Like many others, I heard your call for unity and welcomed it. These are words we had been waiting to hear from you and the opposition parties throughout the election campaign. But words alone are not enough to make progress. Many share the longing for unity you spoke of, and many are also willing to do a great deal for it, including giving up on things that I consider urgent for the State of Israel and important to its future. Not because we have changed our minds, but because, as you noted, cohesion in the face of these challenges is more important right now.
Today, the fifth of Kislev, is the birthday of my late brother, Maj. Elhanan Kalmanson, who gave his life for the people of Israel in the face of an existential threat. When he went out to rescue civilians trapped under fire, he was not concerned with their views, whom they had voted for or what they thought of the government. They were his brothers and sisters. We are all one people.
But it is precisely from this perspective that I ask you, Mr. Prime Minister: What are you willing to do for that unity? What are you willing to compromise on? After all, you yourself said this is the only way to confront the existential threat. If this is indeed the path, we must be prepared to follow it courageously, not merely declare our support for it.
There are several issues on which we are waiting for clear answers. Like many others, I have firm views on each of them. I believe in the importance of changes to the judicial system, and I have a clear position on military conscription and sharing the burden of service. But I am willing to postpone important reforms and compromise on matters of principle, recognizing that there is a greater task at hand.
Would you be willing to meet the opposition halfway, even on the question of who serves as prime minister, if that is the way to form a broad government in the face of a threat you yourself have described as existential?
Would you be willing to advance an agreed framework for investigating the events of October 7, one that would command the broadest possible public trust, even if it is not exactly the framework you believe in?
Would you be willing to advance meaningful changes to military conscription, even at the cost of undermining the haredi parties' support for you? And what about reforming the judicial system? Would you be willing to postpone measures you consider important in order to reach broad agreement? On each of these issues, there is no need to concede everything. But there must be a genuine willingness to compromise. And I would like to put the same question to Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett.
You, too, must state clearly what you are willing to give up. Would you be willing to compromise on the premiership? Would you be willing to join a government even if not all your demands are met? After all, reports have already indicated that you would be willing to set aside some of the issues at the heart of your election campaigns, issues presented as red lines, in order to form a government.
Because if everyone is willing to give up only what does not really matter to them, we have achieved nothing. Unity requires each side to be willing to give up things that matter to it as well.
It is not easy to show courage in the face of the enemy. Sometimes it is far harder to show courage in the face of your own camp. Unity is not a test that only one side must pass. You cannot demand that Netanyahu compromise while making it clear in the same breath that there is nothing you are willing to give up.
Especially now, the public needs to hear not only declarations about unity, but also specifics: what each side is willing to do, what it is willing to give up and what political price it is willing to pay. Please show responsibility and transparency.
Rather than retreating behind closed doors for negotiations, please make those negotiations transparent to the public. After three years of sacrifice, we deserve to know how, and on what basis, our fate will be decided. Mr. Prime Minister, and you, the opposition leaders, there is no need to agree on everything or abandon an entire worldview. We are willing to give up things that matter to us for the sake of the country. We ask to know that you are willing to do so as well.