Godspeed, 19th Knesset!

President Shimon Peres will once again be there. Trumpets will sound and opening words will be said. There will be smiling new MKs and their excited families, as well as former MKs who from now on will only be seen at memorial services. All in all, the opening ceremony of the 19th Knesset on Tuesday will be engorged with egos, but will also serve as a giant celebration of Israel's parliamentary democracy.

Our nation, subject to constant stress and endless crises, has now 19 times stayed the course and maintained its democratic process. Israel has almost always held its elections on schedule. David Ben-Gurion insisted on holding Israel's first election during the War of Independence. The 1973 election was postponed two months by the Yom Kippur War. Democracy has always been celebrated here, even under less than ideal conditions.

Many nations that won independence in the 20th century did not know democracy during their early years, while Israel has adhered to democracy throughout its entire history. Maybe this is because the Zionist movement never functioned otherwise. When Theodor Herzl held the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, he was already encountering opposition. Democracy flowed through the veins of the Zionist movement and continues to be the lifeblood of Israel to this day.

But Israeli democracy has changed its face over time, as needed. The 19th Knesset will be a complex parliamentary body. It won't have a large bloc, such as those that existed even in the 1980s and 1990s. Rather, it will be comprised of many fragments, of varying sizes. There is a strong force pulling the middle outward. At a time when Israel needs government stability, the Knesset's makeup is problematic.

Israel has largely passed the phase of political symbols. A new generation that did not know the country's founding fathers makes up a majority of the incoming Knesset. Israel is facing a number of tough problems, including the economy, the distribution of the national service burden and the reform of the system of government. These issues are particularly burdensome because they popped up at the same time.

How should the incoming Knesset be greeted? What should be expected, both of the coalition that seeks to govern and the opposition inclined to resist? If I could choose one word, it would be restraint. In two words, self-restraint. Godspeed!

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו