How and Why Israelis Stopped Voting for the Left
VERY WORTH WHILE READING
Five reasons that help explain the demise of the Israeli left in the 21st century, from identity politics to the peace process
Clockwise from left: David Ben-Gurion, Merav Michaeli, Zehava Galon, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.Credit: Photos: Tomer Appelbaum; gov.il; Goverment Press Office. Artwork: Anastasia Shub
In the last 20 years, Israel has had nine elections. The upcoming November 1 election will be the 10th in the cycle, and before every single one of these campaigns, the same questions were raised: “What’s the problem with the left?” “What happened to the left?” “What’s left of the left?”
A derivative question – often asked by American Jews – is: “Who are and where are the Israeli liberals?” Not “liberal” in the U.S. political sense, but liberal democrats.






