Israel’s liberal camp needs a new strategy, and a willingness to compromise - opinion

Two Tel Aviv deputy mayors delivered an uncomfortable message to their voters after election day: Israel’s liberal camp needs to reconsider its place in the country.

“I wish the liberal/secular/democratic/military-serving camp were the majority in the country. But it is not,” Asaf Zamir said.

Zippi Brand put it more succinctly: “The time has come to internalize it: The liberal-democratic sector is a sector.”

Their remarks challenge an assumption that has shaped liberal politics for years—that another election, a different leader or a more effective campaign will restore the camp to power.

Demographic change makes that prospect increasingly difficult. No political forecast is permanent, but a strategy built around waiting for a liberal majority is no longer sufficient.

The alternative is not surrender. It is a different way of exercising power.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties offer a model. They do not need to lead the country to secure influence. They negotiate, enter coalitions and focus relentlessly on the interests of their constituents.

Liberal parties could adopt that discipline while pursuing their own priorities: an independent judiciary, strong universities, a free press and the rights of the citizens they represent.

That requires deciding which goals are essential, which disagreements can be negotiated and which partnerships are worth pursuing. It also means accepting that influence may come through serving in a government liberals do not lead.

There are early signs of this approach in the language used by Gadi Eisenkot and Avigdor Liberman. But their message to voters needs to be clearer about the compromises that participation in government could require.

Those choices will be uncomfortable. Cooperation with parties outside the liberal camp may demand concessions on issues voters care deeply about. Yet remaining outside government carries costs of its own, particularly when the institutions liberals want to defend are being shaped by others.

The question is no longer simply how the liberal camp can win the premiership. It is how it can turn its electoral strength into lasting influence.

That begins with a harder, more practical message to its voters: compromise is part of protecting what matters.