As I write these words, many of us are paying close attention to the results of Israel’s recent election. On Tuesday, a record number of Israelis went to the polls to cast their vote and have a hand in determining the country’s next administration. Israel is run by a parliamentary system consisting of numerous political parties. One votes for a party, not an individual. The prime minister is determined by the party with the most votes. The ruling coalition is made up of a conglomerate of parties that – combined – total the 61 seats necessary to form a majority. What this means is that ‘unlikely bedfellows’ often come together to create a majority coalition. 

The headline as we approached this historic election was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Was his response to October 7 appropriate and effective? Could October 7 have been prevented somehow? Has he done enough to quell settler violence in the West Bank? Is his current coalition, consisting of various far-right figures, effectively forcing his hand into ongoing violence when it comes to not only the West Bank, but Lebanon, Gaza and Iran? What about his ongoing protection of the Ultra-Orthodox and their exemption from military service? Would his opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, soft spoken, a service veteran, the father of a fallen soldier, chart a new path on all of these integral fronts?

We may not have final results for a little while still, but some things are already abundantly clear: 

–Israelis are heavily invested in the political realities of their nation. There are no bystanders. Nothing is theoretical. This election MATTERS. More than 77% of eligible voters took part on Tuesday.

–Israel remains the only true democracy in the Middle East. Israel is indeed the only place where all citizens regardless of religion, race, gender, sexuality or ideology can help shape the future of the country in which they live. 

–There is NO APARTHEID. After all, roughly one fifth of Israel’s citizens are Arab. In fact, two of the parties that did particularly well in Tuesday’s election were Arab parties. With Netanyahu’s would-be coalition essentially falling apart, Eisenkot will have to decide if he has the courage to do what few politicians have heretofore had the courage (or had the mandate) to do, namely form a government consisting of a significant Arab bloc. In Israel, to be Muslim is to have access to health care, education, full voting rights, social services and – increasingly – representation in the Knesset.  

–Israel remains COMPLICATED. To all of the protestors on college campuses and tiktok activists aiming to reduce Israel to misguided slogans and shallow assessments, Tuesday’s election showed once more the full breadth and messiness of present-day Israeli society. This is a place that is all things at once: religious and secular, old and young, progressive and conservative, immigrant and native, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Muslim, Christian, atheist, activist, scholar, warrior, realist, gay and straight, pessimist and optimist. It is both a mythic place dreamed of by our ancestors and a chaotic, uber-modern amalgam of ideas and identities. 

May we come away from this important season with leaders who carry both strength and moral clarity within them. May Israel live up to the dreams our parents dreamed and the vision that Herzl had once upon a time.