Religious Zionist commentator Avishai Ben Haim argued Saturday night that left-wing parties' longstanding boycott of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his voters prevented the formation of a broad coalition government, which in turn led to the judicial reform crisis, national division, and possibly even the October 7 Hamas attack.
"What if there had been no boycott? If there had been no boycott, there would have been no October 7," Ben Haim opened his remarks. He then posed a hypothetical: "And if left-wing bloc parties hadn't boycotted Netanyahu and his voters, what would have been different?"
He contended that the political boycott triggered a chain of events that deepened rifts within Israeli society: "If there had been no boycott, there would have been no October 7. If there had been no boycott of 'second Israel,' if there had been no boycott of the 'Bibist' public, representing the core of sweet traditionalism, there would have been no October 7."
He explained that he was basing his argument specifically on the position of those who blame the right for the divisions created by the judicial reform. According to him:
"Our brothers on the left accuse us of causing the October 7 catastrophe because we tore the nation apart with the judicial reform ... So let's follow the logic of the accusers, who are also the boycotters: If there had been no boycott, there would have been a broad government, and if there had been a broad government, there would have been no possibility of judicial reform, and if there had been no judicial reform, there wouldn't have been such a rift in the nation. And if there hadn't been such a rift in the nation, then maybe, maybe, God willing... there would have been no October 7."
