1996 Elections, Campaign Commercials for the 14th Knesset. Several months after [former Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin’s assassination, Israel is still stunned, but it seems that cosmic optimism radiates from the screens: furrowed fields, white doves, children’s laughter, Rabin- Clinton-Hussein on the White House lawns — and for dessert, prime-minister candidate Shimon Peres (today’s president) kisses small children. In the background, the “Israel Chooses Peace” jingle plays.

Even the Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu (on his way to his first term of office), who went for the intimidating broadcast “Peres will divide Jerusalem” featuring a picture of [late PA President Yasser] Arafat and the sound of glass breaking, took care to insert the word “peace.” It is hard to believe but the Likud slogan then was, “Netanyahu — making a secure peace.” Then, peace was the winning card. Everyone used it.

2013 Elections, Campaign Commercials for the 19th Knesset. On the first day of broadcasts, the trend is clear: No one talks about peace any longer. On the contrary, it seems that the word drives away voters. In effect, out of an hour and a quarter of broadcasts, the word “peace” is barely heard once. This rare occurrence took place in one of the campaign commercials of the Hatenua (Movement) party headed by Tzipi Livni, and even then it was half-hearted.

The Labor party, which has been occupied for months in trying to hide Rabin’s legacy, even avoided using the phrase “political process,” and preferred giving us a lot of [party leader] Shelly Yachimovich, talking about feminism and a just society.