Rivlin warns political crisis is eroding Israelis’ trust in democracy

President Reuven Rivlin decries the political logjam that has sent Israelis to the polls four times in the past two years.

“Even in the face of the coronavirus challenge, our elected officials have failed to form a sustainable government, and they are bringing us voters to vote in the Knesset elections for the fourth time in less than two years,” he laments at a conference at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

“The dire consequences of this situation are not just an impairment of the state’s ability to provide budgets and operate the essential services it provides to its citizens in the areas of health, education, employment and welfare,” he continues, according to a translation of his Hebrew remarks released by his office.

“The current situation even erodes in an unprecedented way the people’s trust in democratic institutions — in the Knesset, in the government, and in the political parties. It erodes the people’s trust in the democratic system itself.”

Rivlin goes on to call for unity, asserting, “This current crisis, like any challenge to befall Israeli society, cannot be won if we attempt to battle it on our own, within each community or its closed sector alone. The contagious virus reminded us that for better or for worse we were meant to live here together: Jews, Arabs, secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox; right and left.”