In this opinion piece, Prof. Miron H. Izakson argues that democratic legitimacy depends not only on the public trusting its leaders, but also on leaders trusting the public. He says a government that rules without faith in its citizens, their rights, and their standing has no justified right to govern, especially in a Jewish and democratic state like Israel.
Izakson writes that elected officials must accept the voters’ decision sincerely and without maneuvering, but they must also believe that they exist to serve the people deeply and fully. He connects this idea to the book of Numbers, pointing to Moses and Aaron as leaders who fought for the people’s survival even during rebellion, including Aaron running, at Moses’ instruction, “into the congregation” to stand between the dead and the living.
Applying the lesson to the present, he says authorities must take authentic public distress seriously and trust the population’s feelings, even if policy cannot follow every shifting mood. He stresses that governing requires steady confidence in citizens’ rights, capabilities, limits, dreams, and legitimacy.
Izakson adds that in Israel this responsibility is even greater because the country has faced an existential struggle since its founding, includes deep diversity, and demands extraordinary sacrifice from its people. He concludes that leaders should not only praise Israeli heroes and citizens, but also develop a profound trust in the generation they are tasked with leading. Only then, he says, can citizens reasonably trust their rulers in return.
