Israel’s next government must save the country before it is too late - opinion

I began my foreign correspondent career in 1990 in Romania, just weeks after its communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown. The new government called itself the National Salvation Front.

Romania truly did need saving. The communists had left behind an impoverished economy, shattered institutions, and a demoralized population.

There are moments when ordinary politics are not enough, and salvation is required. Israel has reached such a moment.

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins in October, Israel will be heading toward catastrophe. But if the polls are right and the opposition wins, it will be inheriting a traumatized country, with weakened institutions and international isolation threatening its very existence. 

In such an eventuality, the opposition must then think in terms of national salvation, as it will need that level of motivation to succeed.

Everything is connected. The occupation, settlements, and wars fuel isolation; isolation damages the economy and security; and internal societal distortions further weaken the country.

It is a self-reinforcing cycle – and the next government must break it. Given that the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) birth rate, under the current incentive structure, will not decline quickly enough, there is no time to spare before the whole enterprise collapses. I therefore propose a dozen immediate tasks for Israel’s “National Salvation Front.”

Accountability and democracy

First, establish a state commission of inquiry that investigates the October 7 catastrophe without games or evasions. 

Then, repeal the judicial and constitutional changes imposed by the Netanyahu coalition. In this regard, undo the legislative blitz of its final months, including the law weakening the attorney-general and the measures that undermined the independence of the courts, legal advisers, and institutional gatekeepers.

Make clear that ministers, like everyone else, will obey court rulings. Israel can one day debate judicial reform – calmly and with broad consensus.

And from here, look outward. It is time to turn military power into diplomatic gains.

Say ‘yes’ to Trump Gaza plan – and mean it

Declare that Israel accepts the framework in full and will implement it in good faith. If Hamas genuinely disarms, Israel will withdraw as agreed, cooperate fully with the international stabilization force and the Board of Peace, and accept the new Palestinian governing authority.

Israel should enthusiastically assist in rebuilding Gaza and help raise funds from Arab states and international donors.

End Jewish terrorism in West Bank

End the de facto immunity enjoyed by violent Jewish extremists. Outlaw organizations involved in terrorism, confiscate illegal weapons, dismantle violent outposts, and establish a dedicated apparatus for securing convictions.

The IDF must receive unequivocal orders that protecting Palestinians from Israeli attackers is part of its mission. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s charade is over.

Freeze settlement expansion beyond security barrier

Halt construction in settlements deep inside the West Bank and preserve the territorial possibility of future partition – because without it, there can be no Jewish state.

A Palestinian state is inconceivable as long as Hamas remains armed and the Palestinian Authority has not undergone reform, but Israel must stop making the notion of such a state impossible.

It can declare that major blocs such as Alfei Menashe, Ma’aleh Adumim, and Gush Etzion are expected to remain in Israeli hands under a future agreement, while offering generous incentives to Israelis living beyond the barrier to come home.

Rebuild a regional strategy

Offer Lebanon and Syria a fresh start. Declare that Israel has no territorial ambitions in either country beyond the Golan Heights, and offer non-belligerency pacts. 

Test whether the Syrian government of Ahmed al-Sharaa genuinely wants peace, and if so, welcome it. Offer Lebanon whatever assistance it needs to confront Hezbollah.

As for Iran, replace a war of attrition with a long-term strategy coordinated with the US and its allies, combining military deterrence with diplomacy and economic pressure. End attacks carried out without coordination, explanation, or a clear objective.

And reach out to Saudi Arabia based on US President Donald Trump’s plan, which includes agreement in principle to some form of Palestinian state in the future, with the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor in mind.

Thank Egypt and Jordan 

Acknowledge these countries for maintaining peace through decades of difficulty, and make strengthening relations with them a national priority. Listen seriously to Cairo and Amman, and seek ways to deepen economic, security, and even cultural ties with both.

All of this will be relatively easy compared to the real challenge at home.

Embrace Arab society

Declare organized crime in Arab communities a national emergency. Triple the police presence where necessary, target the financing of criminal organizations and illegal weapons networks, and hold commanders accountable.

Every murder of an Arab citizen should be publicly treated as an Israeli tragedy. Amend the 1992 Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty to explicitly guarantee equality.

Establish transparent formulas for equal funding of Arab municipalities and launch a national project to repair neglected infrastructure and services. Then begin a serious dialogue with Arab community leaders about national service.

Declare state of emergency in education

Israeli students lag behind in mathematics and science, and the gaps between the strongest and weakest students are among the largest in the developed world.

A country that wants to remain a technological powerhouse cannot continue like this. Israel must massively invest in state education, teachers, mathematics, science, English, and civics.

At the same time, it must introduce an equation: No core curriculum? No state funding. Every school receiving state money or recognition must teach the full core curriculum, employ qualified teachers, and submit to supervision and standardized assessment. This includes the haredi and Arab education systems. If anyone goes berserk over this, let them.

Overhaul incentives

Gradually eliminate child allowances beginning after the third child. Restore yeshiva budgets to their previous, lower levels. Eliminate unnecessary publicly funded rabbinical and kashrut-supervision positions (and reinstate the Bennett-Lapid government’s kashrut reform).

Simultaneously, establish a national integration authority that offers adult education involving the completion of core studies, university preparation, vocational and technological training, employment assistance, and pathways into military or national service for anyone who wishes to enter the Israeli mainstream, whether haredi or Arab.

Military or national service

Yeshiva study or religion in general should no longer exempt a fit young person from military service or legally recognized national service. Israel should enact a universal service law, introduced sensitively and gradually.

Haredi draft evaders should face the same consequences as other draft evaders. Benefits can be withdrawn, and institutions that systematically facilitate evasion should lose state funding.

Initially, this will not be possible by consensus, because there are currently no partners for such an agreement – although determined implementation may eventually create them.

It is time to redirect the money, energy and national ambition back to Israel and Israelis without compromising genuine security.

Make the Negev, Galilee new national project

Radically reorder economic priorities: less money for isolated settlements, sectoral mechanisms, and political needs, and more for infrastructure, housing, transportation, healthcare and education inside sovereign Israel.

Redirect the energy and money that have been squandered to the Negev and Galilee instead. Invest in roads, railways, housing, hospitals, universities and industry, alongside aggressive tax incentives for businesses and families. In the North, build a genuine transportation network to turbocharge its economy.

Amend Basic Law

A person indicted on serious corruption charges should not be allowed to form a government. The Basic Law should be amended so that this cannot happen again.

There will be furious opposition to such an amendment, but a national salvation government cannot afford to recoil. Its mission is to confront the country’s burning structural problems, repair the damage of the past, reconnect Israel with the democratic world, and offer hope.

If these steps are not taken, the country may not survive to its centenary in 2048. Entanglement with a hostile Palestinian population combined with the rapid demographic growth of the haredi sector without radical reform will destroy Israel’s alliances and access to global markets, driving out its productive sector. What will remain is an impoverished, embattled ghetto.

But if Israel does these things with a sense of mission and urgency, perhaps the phrase I encountered in Romania all those years ago can apply in this case as well. There is much in Israel worth saving, and worth the effort. There is still a chance for national salvation.

Dan Perry is a former Cairo-based Middle East editor and London-based Europe/Africa editor of the Associated Press. He served as chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem and authored two books about Israel.