The column opens with a dispute over a soldier who was punished last month for wearing a patch with a Messiah symbol, a case that drew angry attention on Channel 14. The writer says the uproar reflects a deeper Israeli obsession with messianic thinking, not simple religious faith, and argues that the next government should uproot that culture and replace it with action, initiative and practical problem-solving.
The piece notes that Judaism does contain messianic ideas in the Bible, rabbinic literature and Maimonides, and says such belief is understandable after 2,000 years of exile and suffering. It also explains that Zionism offered another kind of redemption, through people settling the land, building homes and families, and that Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook tried to combine the two. But the author, who says he is not religious, rejects the broader concept of redemption and says life has no higher purpose beyond living well and improving the future for the next generation.
The column then links messianic politics to recent events, saying that after the United States and Iran reached a peace, or more precisely a memorandum of understanding, Donald Trump suddenly became a villain in parts of the Israeli right. It also says Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-core supporters see him as a messiah, which allows them to excuse every failure as success and every policy as divine design. In that mindset, the author says, even controversial moves such as exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service, restoring daycare subsidies for yeshiva students, or shutting down the country to stop draft-arrest enforcement can be recast as steps toward redemption.
The author argues that this attitude paralyzes society, encourages passivity, and makes it easy to justify inaction. Instead of waiting for a savior, Israelis should demand capable leaders with integrity, transparency and a willingness to try, even if they fail. The column calls for term limits for prime ministers, more decentralization to local government, and greater public participation through tools like participatory budgeting and citizen involvement in urban planning in Jerusalem, so people become active shapers of their lives rather than passive believers in miracles.
