"And the wise shall keep silent at that time": In politics, one must also know when to be silent

The finger has not yet pulled the trigger, you control the bullet. The moment it is fired, there is no way to bring it back. It is the same with words. As long as you have not said them, you decide if and when to use them. From the moment the words leave your mouth, they manage the agenda, the headlines, the explanations, and the damage. The former esteemed commander has not yet completed the transition from uniform to politics.

On the battlefield, you need to know when to pull the trigger. In politics, it is much more important to know when not to. Time after time, he shoots too quickly, and the bullets that hit are not his political rivals, but rather the very camp he seeks to lead.

It may be that he is right. But righteousness alone does not win elections. In elections, they do not hand out prizes for the righteousness of the path. In elections, they hand out mandates. Whoever does not understand this may find himself righteous, principled, and consistent, but without any ability to implement everything he believes in.

Elections are not won if you only speak to those who already agree with you. You already have those votes. Elections are decided by the undecided, the centrist voters, and the soft-right people who are looking for an alternative. You need to speak to them. You need to convince them. And above all, you must not drive them away. Every statement about a Palestinian state, every discussion about evacuating settlements, and every sentence that allows the Likud to paint the bloc of change as an extreme-left bloc, distances exactly the people without whom there is no chance of replacing the government.

This is no longer a one-time slip. It is a pattern that has been repeating itself for years. From the "processes speech," through the sentence about "babies as a hobby," passing through the statement about the Haredi public, and reaching its peak in the explosion with Avigdor Lieberman. Every time, the same path. The chairman of the Democrats says what he thinks. The storm explodes. Then come the clarifications. Then the whole party is busy with explanations, and in the meantime, the government drops off the agenda.

This is his tragedy. Yair Golan does not lose in arguments because his positions are weak. He loses because their timing is poor. He does not lose mandates because he is not sharp enough. He loses them following the fact that he is not restrained enough. In politics, silence is also a work tool, and it seems that he has not yet learned to use this tool.

What makes the story even more frustrating is that precisely today, the Democrats have an excellent team. Gilad Kariv, Naama Lazimi, Efrat Rayten, and other Knesset members work hard, expose failures, promote legislation, and fight on issues that occupy the public. They are trying to expand the camp and convince more and more people that it is time to replace the government. And then comes another sentence from the chairman, and all the spotlights turn to him. Not because of a political achievement, but because of a storm that could have been prevented with one second of restraint.

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Politics is first and foremost a profession of self-control. Knowing how to swallow a sentence, postpone an interview, not answer every question, and above all, understand that not every thought must become a headline. Whoever does not control his words lets them control him. Whoever does not know how to choose his battles will very quickly discover that the battle has chosen him.

Golan proved the ability to lead fighters a long time ago. Now, he needs to prove that he knows how to lead a camp. The battle for public opinion is not won only with courage. It is won with restraint, sophistication, and the ability to identify the difference between a sentence that must be said and a sentence that is better left in the head.