12 באוקטובר 2026

15 days until the 26th Knesset elections. Today, October 12th, we go back exactly 26 years to the year 2000, to the start of the Second Intifada. There are images you cannot forget: two reservists, Vadim Norzhich and Yossi Avrahami, take a wrong turn and enter Ramallah. Palestinian police take them to the police station, where they are murdered in a brutal lynching, with Palestinian police officers also participating in this animalistic act. Vadim had been married just a week before; Yossi was a father of three. Behind the images that landed in the collective memory, were two families whose lives were shattered. The image of their blood-stained hands became one of the symbols of the Intifada; to many Israelis, it reflected a deep break in trust. The crisis of the Barak government was in full swing. The coalition was crumbling. The Camp David summit ended without an agreement, and the Intifada had already broken out. That image became one of the difficult symbols of that period. In December, Barak resigned. In January, peace talks were still held in Taba in another attempt to reach an agreement. But in February 2001, Ariel Sharon won the prime ministerial elections with more than 62%of the vote. This is the political lesson I take from this day. When a security crisis turns into a crisis of trust, even the biggest promises struggle to convince. A government can promise a better tomorrow. The public needs to believe that it is capable of protecting them today. Good news and a quiet day. Yes.