The Left hasn’t forgotten what it means to be Jewish, but it has forgotten what it means to win elections. In Israel, you win elections with the help of security, not with the help of God.
There were two candidates for prime minister in the last elections. One is married to his third wife, his second wife was a gentile who underwent a Reform conversion, he confessed on live television that he had cheated on his current wife, he doesn’t observe Shabbat and he eats seafood in non-kosher restaurants. The other candidate is the grandson of Israel’s first chief rabbi, he observes Shabbat, he goes to synagogue every Saturday, he leads a remarkable Jewish family life and he only eats kosher food. Well, who won?The answer to that question is Bibi Netanyahu.
Lots of people think of Israel as a hyper-Jewish state but that really isn't true. There are two Israels, the religious Israel of Orthodox to Haredi Jews who control religious life and the secular Israel. Large swaths of secular Israel are observantly Jewish but large swaths of secular Israel are not.
Secular Israel is a cosmopolitan, Mediterranean country with great beaches, a night life and a cultural scene of arts and cuisine. Tel Aviv was voted the most gay friendly city on the planet.
Security is Israel's existential issue. The right, whether its Aerial 'Bulldozer' Sharon, his co-pilot Ehud Olmert, or Netanyahu has trounced the left for a generation. The last time the left won they were lead by Israeli general Ehud Barak. That was 1999. Sharon crushed Barak in the election of 2001 after Barak's failed peace negotiation and the launch of the Second Intefadeh. The left hasn't come close since.
The left, represented by Labour and the Meretz peace party, is closely associated with the Camp David Accord of 1994 and the failed peace process. Once the natural ruling party in Israel, Labour is a hallow husk today. Such is the state David Ben Gurion's party.
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