{
  "id": 17955535,
  "title": "Israel’s Common Ground",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/israels-common-ground",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-03T11:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Atlantic",
    "slug": "the-atlantic",
    "url": "https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/11/israeli-election-politics-culture/689257/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "My latest visit to Israel coincided with the country's election in October, but it was purely coincidental. Over the course of 10 days of discussions with military leaders, intelligence officers, businesspeople and university students, I was struck by the enduring essence of Israel that Shabtai Teveth, biographer of the famous one-eyed soldier and diplomat Moshe Dayan, once described. His one eye shone with a boundless enthusiasm for life, while the other had been obscured by a black patch, rendering it lifeless. At times, Teveth's metaphor seemed to represent Israel itself, where life and death exist as close companions.\n\nI had traveled to Israel in November 2023, just as the aftermath of Hamas's brutal assault lingered. Over 800 civilians and 300 soldiers lay dead, and 251 hostages were taken. In the wake of the tragedy, I witnessed the horrific scene where a disabled elderly woman had been burned alive in her bed, the house where a father was murdered before his children's eyes, and the scattered toys and belongings left behind. To honor Jewish rituals, the bloodstains were meticulously removed. Israel was undoubtedly in deep and open anguish. Although the trauma was no longer visible on the surface, it remained potent beneath - a running river with immense power.\n\nThe election provided evidence of this enduring trauma. While important issues like curbing the independence of the judicial system and universal national service were at stake, the election hinged on personalities rather than policy matters. Israelis were deeply divided over whether to loathe or trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the ultraright leaders Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and Gadi Eisenkot, a respected retired general with a tragic personal loss. Foreign and national security concerns took a back seat.\n\nIn general, Israelis were far more cautious than they had been in the past three years. Those who believed in the feasibility of a two-state solution were found only on the fringes of political discourse. The establishment of buffer zones in Gaza and Lebanon, encompassing roughly 10 kilometers of devastation in southern Lebanon, garnered widespread approval. This measured approach towards force deployment was grounded in a prudent, rather than foreign opinion-driven, perspective. Israelis were unconcerned about criticism from European leaders or token gestures, such as their recognition of a Palestinian state whose leaders had not called an election in two decades. Young Israelis were eager to join elite units of the Israel Defense Forces, where they served alongside foreigners. In their eyes, students abroad who were unfamiliar with the experience of war were not worthy of support. They vehemently denounced the term \"genocide\" to describe Israel's approach in Gaza, where nearly 500 IDF soldiers had fallen and countless more were wounded since October 8, 2023.\n\nIsraelis have increasingly turned inward, and this inward focus could prove to be a double-edged sword. They have largely ignored the surge of anti-Semitic rhetoric and criminal attacks in countries that were once immune to such atrocities, like Britain and the United States. Instead, they view these incidents as validation of their belief that the world's oldest hatred is at play. Moreover, this grim outlook has led many Israelis, including military and political leaders, to abandon public diplomacy as futile. They fail to grasp the impact of West Bank settlers' brutal actions against local Palestinians on Israel's international standing. They underestimate the significance of the erosion of support within American political parties and among some Jewish and evangelical-Christian communities. The sentiment \"The whole world is against us\" resonates deeply within Israel, as if it were an inevitable truth.\n\nDespite the looming threat of renewed conflict, particularly on the Lebanon border where Hezbollah has reconstituted and begun rearming, Israel's economy has defied expectations, expanding at an annual rate of 4 percent. While Israelis recognize the potential dangers posed by Iran's new weapons capable of penetrating their defenses, the black eye patch of trauma that had overshadowed the nation continues to loom large.",
  "summary": "Israel is becoming dangerously indifferent to world opinion, but still finds strength in its social bonds.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}