Changes needed on the Israeli left

Yair Lootsteen

The days since March 17 have been gloomy for those of us on the left here in Israel. After the dismal election results, concern deepened when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the parties and personas he’ll rule with till the next time we go to the ballots. His choices of “natural” ultra-Orthodox and right-wing allies and of insular Likud ministers (Culture Minister Miri Regev leading the list), left many feeling things are bound to get worse.

There’s no telling how long Netanyahu’s coalition will last given its slim plurality, but many believe that’s of little consequence since we’ll continue on an inexorable path to decades of rightist governments, a fail-safe formula for a disastrous Israeli future, diplomatically, economically, socially, to name but a few. 

While we could take all this lying down or start packing our bags (I actually know people considering this option seriously), it would be more prudent and responsible to begin planning a return to power. That alternative will only materialize if the left understands why it’s done so poorly in elections the past couple of decades and what’s to be done to begin changing that predicament.

To start with, we must acknowledge that the left has become an elitist, Ashkenazi enclave. Speaking at a left-leaning rally days before the elections, Yair Garbuz, a well-known artist, alienated many Sephardi voters when he expressed amazement at how “amulet-kissers, idol-worshippers and people who prostrate themselves at the graves of righteous persons” were controlling the country. More recently, in the wake of an ongoing fracas between Regev and the arts community, Oded Kotler, an acclaimed actor and theatre director, described Likud supporters as a “marching herd of cud-munching cattle.”

While leaders of the left denounced both Garbuz’s and Kotler’s remarks, many in the Sephardi community viewed their statements as representative of the paternalistic, condescending manner liberals continue to perceive and use to treat people whose roots are neither European nor North American.

This quandary segues well into the left’s next problem – its relationship with Israel, the Jewish state. While identifying as a Jew can have cultural and ethnic manifestations, more than anything else it connects us to Judaism, to the Jewish religion. Many liberals look disdainfully at anything associated with religious aspects of their Judaism, as something primitive and intrusive. Perhaps it’s the Orthodox monopoly over all things Jewish in this country – a problem in and of itself, requiring institutional changes to make Israel a more pluralistic society – but in doing so, they not only divorce themselves from religious Judaism but also from huge swaths of Israeli society – anyone Orthodox in their beliefs and many traditional Jews, mostly Sephardi, for whom Judaism is central in their lives.

Thirdly, while the left advocates continued good faith negotiations with the Palestinians, it has yet to come to grips with the failures of the Oslo accords.  Many mistakes were made during negotiations leading to those agreements between Israel and the PLO and many more in their implementation. If we earnestly propose advancing toward a permanent settlement of our differences with the Palestinians, we must begin by explaining to an increasingly skeptical Israeli electorate what was done wrong in the past and how and why past mistakes won’t be repeated in the future.

Lastly, since Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, the left in general and the Labor party in particular have suffered from a dearth of charismatic leaders, able to sway incredulous opinions of disbelieving Israelis. None of the leaders who followed Rabin – Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Amram Mitzna, Amir Peretz, Shelly Yachimovich, Isaac Herzog – had what is takes to persuade Israelis to take the leap of faith necessary to move forward on the peace process.

No change will occur until all these matters are addressed sincerely. That will take time, too much time, but there’s really no other choice.