Party leaders seeking to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in this year’s election discussed their sometimes conflicting visions for what it means to live in a Jewish and democratic state at a conference in Jerusalem on Monday.
They also shared views on Zionism, Israel’s Arab minority and Haredi military service.
Centrist Opposition leader Yair Lapid, right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman and center-left The Democrats chairman Yair Golan spoke as part of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s conference.
Titled “Outlines of a Jewish-Democratic Policy,” it was organized by the institute’s Judaism and State Policy Center and focused on the challenges the next government will face regarding religion and state in Israel.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Israel “is the only democracy in the Middle East and the strongest nation in the Middle East” – and “will be the strongest nation in the Middle East only as long as it is a democracy in the Middle East” that can protect its minorities.
When asked about building an inclusive Zionism that has room for Arab citizens of Israel, he said that the commandment that appears most often in Jewish scripture is to treat the stranger among you with kindness.
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