10: The number of years since Israel last held an election without being called the most fateful in history

Since 2021, Israeli political discourse has repeatedly labeled upcoming ballots as the most critical in the nation's history, a narrative that Danny Kushmaro, a political analyst, says has become a standard refrain of the current campaign. Kushmaro introduces his nightly election segment by declaring these contests the most fateful in Israel's history, a characterization shared by many other commentators.

Kushmaro warns against the assumption that the current election is more important than those that preceded it. He argues that every election feels uniquely pivotal to those involved, but this perspective requires context. When political competition is framed as an existential battle between pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs, the stakes are artificially raised beyond normal democratic cycles.

This framing transforms political setbacks into existential threats. Defeat begins to sound like a national crisis rather than a correctable setback. This dynamic makes it harder for the losing side to accept the outcome and grant the winning side a chance to govern.

The struggle over legitimacy has been evident since Naftali Bennett formed his government in 2021. Before his government was sworn in, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described its formation as the greatest election fraud in history, referring to broken campaign promises rather than stolen ballots. This language cast a legitimately elected government as fraudulent.

The opposition subsequently worked to topple the Bennett coalition, often voting against legislation it supported to weaken the government's slim majority. In recordings from May 2022, Likud MK Miri Regev defended voting against measures benefiting soldiers and vulnerable groups, stating the overriding objective was to dismantle the coalition.

When Netanyahu won the 2022 election, Yair Lapid conceded the result and arranged an orderly handover. However, as opposition to the judicial overhaul mobilized, the language of illegitimacy returned. In April 2023, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin told a large demonstration in Tel Aviv that while the government had been elected legally, it was morally illegitimate due to its appalling composition and reprehensible actions.

Kushmaro contends that this cycle of existential rhetoric complicates the transition of power. By treating each vote as a matter of national survival, the political system struggles to establish the habit of accepting electoral defeat as a routine part of democratic governance.