Partnership Government - 2025

Written by: Erel Morris

The State of Israel is descending into a civil war. The October 7 war temporarily halted the process of polarization and radicalization, but it is returning and intensifying as we approach the stage of dealing with its fateful consequences. Liberals against nationalists, Haredim against secularists, supporters of annexation against supporters of separation, Jews against Palestinians, Channel 14 against 13, 12, the government against Kan 11 and the rest of the world.

The competition for the coveted political "majority" has led us to a polarizing binary perception of coalition and opposition, right or left. Global political extremism in the shadow of existential crises is increasing social divisions and degenerating us into a dangerous perception on an existential level - "us or them." The Israeli right will say that it started with the "just not Bibi" approach, the left will say that it started with the right's unwillingness to recognize the Arabs as legitimate partners in the government. In practice, the polarization between the parties is the greatest danger that brings the end closer and the slope is slippery. Is the growing bipolarity a democratic fate in the age of the social network?

Camp is inherent to human social existence. The other helps us define who we are. Like the shepherd with his flock, the other is the shepherd who makes us shepherds. Tribalism is an evolutionary biological mechanism that allows us to increase the power of the individual in competing for resources that others desire. The sense of tribal "togetherness" improves the ability to join forces with others and create partnerships that allow for the division of resources. The same tribalism also creates divisions between camps. In order to weaken the divisions, we need to strengthen our idea of inter-tribal partnership, because it is a canvas under which we can shelter together in the consciousness of shepherding among the tribes in Israel. We must stand together to deal with the crises of the end of the war and we will not succeed in the existing conditions of increasingly severe polarization, no matter who is in control.

The ideological polarization in Israel is intensified by a system of government in which there is no real separation between the legislative and executive branches. This fusion creates intolerable power gaps between the tribes in the nation - the ruling tribes and the ruled tribes. The severe political crisis in Israel could actually become a political opportunity, since tribal and sectoral Israel, like other countries in our region, is divided by a strong social division that is not a binary division, which opens the door to other possibilities. A format is proposed here for the establishment of a partnership government that is based on the non-exclusion of publics from the ruling party, already in the upcoming elections. A partnership government, unlike the Jewish unity government that Bennett is talking about, is an inclusive government that has no declared agenda, no party coalition agreements, and a place at the government table is reserved for all Knesset factions, Jews and Arabs.

Positions in the government will be priced in points, and these will be defined in advance by the government's founders. The positions will be purchased from the party points purse in a graded election in rounds by all the partner parties. The remaining positions will be filled temporarily and reserved for parties that chose not to join the government but are invited to join later. The political and ideological process in a partnership government takes place around the government table and not in negotiations to establish it. In the processes of establishing a partnership government, no basic lines are defined except for the partnership, and there are no binding coalition agreements of give and take. The decision-making process on issues that come up for discussion in the government will be regulated through the government's regulations through a rigorous political debate, without coalition discipline, each issue on its own merits. In a partnership government, party representatives can remain loyal to their voters and their values without coalition commitments, and allow all publics to share power and influence, through negotiations as partners within the coalition.

A partnership government does not require new special legislation and can be established as early as the upcoming elections. A partnership government will create a new discourse and necessary and responsible cooperation between representatives of all parts of Israeli society. Contrary to claims that a partnership government will lead to paralysis, the opposite is true. In the described government, there will be a large majority among government members on issues that are important and essential to the majority of the public, and without blackmail from small parties that threaten to dissolve the government. On the other hand, minority parties have greater influence within the government than on the opposition benches, since by virtue of their power, they can create "give and take" political relationships and agreements through their centers of influence and involve the public that elected them through their participation in government processes and discussions.

A partnership government has another very important advantage. A government that represents all the citizens of the country has the force of a constituent assembly. A constituent assembly is the body that can enact a constitution for Israel, which is so important to us in light of the conflicts we are experiencing between the executive branch and the judiciary and other state bodies. A constituent assembly is also the body that can promote effective and fateful peace processes that are supported by the mandate the assembly received from the entire people, on the way to stable agreements that will guide us towards an exit from the long and bloody regional conflict.

Realizing the vision of the partnership government requires going to the polls, as the current government is tainted by self-concern and responsibility for the war and does not represent the will of the public. The Israeli public needs to see a horizon where elections will not return us to the same place of deteriorating conflict and lack of substantive discourse between coalition and opposition, ruling and ruled. We want to know that the next elections will lead to a new reality of partnership between different parties, and hostility between factions. Only the overthrow of the government will lead the politicians in the transitional government to release the hostages before the elections.