Accepting defeat and recognizing the results of a public poll is a cultural problem that cannot be solved overnight.

Leaders of the Islamic Action Front did not even recognize what observers had noted about the elections: that they were relatively free and fair.

Absent also are independent cultural figures who should be chiming in with their position in regards to any national event.

But what the elections have shown is that even if changes are made to the electoral process, a much more important change is required, namely of the culture of the citizenry: to believe in the system, accept its results and have the courage and sportsmanship to admit defeat.

This article was first published in the Jordan Times on Jan. 30, 2013.

“People say, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t see myself as part of a society where women cannot sit in the front of the bus.’ People don’t want to be part of such an extreme society.”

But it is also code for a broader sociological shift,

47 percent identified the religious-secular divide as the most acute in society, more than twice as high as the next ranked choice of politics, at 19 percent, followed by rich and poor, at 15 percent.

“The underlying issue is that there’s an ideological contest over the soul of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.”

“There are elements in the making of a Kulturkampf,”

And in late 2011, an international uproar was set off when a group of Haredi men spit at an 8-year-old Modern Orthodox girl on her way to school, calling her a prostitute because her clothing was seen as not modest enough.

Beyond the draft, Mr. Lapid’s party platform said it would “work to promote” civil marriage, including for same-sex couples, and “rectify inequality in family laws.” On his Facebook page, Mr. Lapid wrote that “as far as women’s exclusion is concerned there can be no compromise or negotiation.”