Instead the divide between right and lift has become one over what, exactly, it means to be a Zionist.

Instead the divide between right and lift has become one over what, exactly, it means to be a Zionist. The Labor Party, which dominated the first three and a half decades of Israel’s political existence, saw itself as tough but also secular, worldly, pragmatic; Likud, which has predominated in more recent decades, championed a vision that is more religious, more aggressive and nationalistic.

Herzog sits firmly in the first camp, and he spent much of the campaign trying to reclaim “Zionism” from the right — indeed, even putting it in his coalition’s name. Two months before the election, the party released a campaign spot entitled “What is Zionism?” It looked a bit like an educational video shot in the 1980s: One by one, candidates appeared in front of a fluttering Israeli flag to explain their thoroughly banal views of Zionism. “For me Zionism is a house, allowing security for all the citizens of the state,” Herzog explained.

“Zionism is to maintain that no one can transfer our money under the table,” added Stav Shaffir, a Labor MK who rose to prominence as a social activist and fought in the Knesset against funneling money to illegal settlements. “Zionism is responsibility. Responsibility of the state for education, for livelihood, for healthcare—for all of us,” said Shelly Yachimovich, the previous Labor chairwoman.

While his right-wing rivals hold to an almost messianic idea of Zionism as the redemption of the Jewish people, Herzog sees it as forging a country with transparent accounting and universal healthcare — as if Israel were Switzerland.

The problem for Herzog, of course, is that it is not. Israel is a country with no fixed borders, it is persistently on the verge of conflict with many of its neighbors, and it oversees a seemingly permanent domination over another people. The “peace camp” is a shell of its former self; poll after poll shows that younger Israelis hold more hawkish and nationalist views than their parents. Netanyahu built a political career on leaving these issues unresolved. Herzog may try to address them, but the winds are blowing against him. “The fear is that he will dilute his views, blur his views, to act like a prime minister for all Israelis, and this will lead to a further deterioration in the legitimacy of the political system,” said Hermann. “People will feel betrayed, especially those who crossed the lines.”

Almost everyone agrees that tossing out King Bibi would bring a breath of fresh air. Two days before the election, atop a Vietnamese restaurant on Rothschild Boulevard, the offices of V15 are buzzing. It is a grassroots organization, born in December with a Facebook post, which has since recruited tens of thousands of volunteers to mount the largest get-out-the-vote operation in Israeli history. Campaigners have knocked on more than 150,000 doors across Israel, urging voters to change the government. They plan to return to each one on Tuesday.

“He’s done nothing on the economy, he ignores the Palestinians, he tells us there’s no solution to Gaza, that we just have to accept another war every two years,” said Nimrod Dweck, one of the founders. “He’s had nine years. It’s enough. If you have no ideas, it’s time to step aside.”

Herzog does have economic ideas, which call for billions of dollars of additional spending and an expanded role for government. On the deeper issues, though, he speaks only in generalities. He largely ignores the Palestinians, too, and does not offer a solution for Gaza. He can seem like a vestige of an older Israel, when the political consensus was more settled and more liberal. If he manages to win, he will take over a country that has moved sharply to the right — and one that has fractured during Netanyahu’s tenure. He can usher in a rhetorical change, a sense of normalcy — but real change will remain elusive.

“All parts of our society are simmering from within,” Herzog said. “My role as a leader is to unite everybody… if I’m strong enough, I’ll be able to lower everyone’s prices, and move toward a coalition that will move Israel in the right direction. And that’s all I can say.”

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