Time for a Leftist Revolution in Israel

For far too long, the right-wing has hijacked Israel. From Netanyahu to Ayelet Shaked, bigoted right-wing hooligans have been granted a disturbing degree of power in the holy land. The results of this phenomenon are extremely disturbing from the incarcerated prisoners of Holot to the Occupied Palestinians to the Bedouins whose land has been violated.

It is also important to remember that the success of the right-wing also is bad for Jewish Israelis too. For example, instead of money going to impoverished and aging Holocaust survivors, settlements are being subsidized. In addition to the over 2000 Gazans killed during Operation Protective Edge, 67 Israeli soldiers and a few Israeli civilians were killed as well. Of course, this does not even mention the countless Israeli lives lost due to the cyclic violence spurred by The Occupation.

The Zionist dream was one at its core to find a home for the Jewish people where they could live in peace from oppression. Unfortunately, this view proved to be far too optimistic for reasons which were both our fault and the fault of the Arabs. In any case, it is important to remember that Netanyahu and the Israeli right-wing have betrayed the Zionist dream of peace through the Occupation. They have used the horrendous memories of the Shoah and of the existential threats by looming armies of Arab countries in the early years of Israel’s existence to justify the Occupation and the oppression of African refugees, Bedouins, and Palestinians if not more. They refuse to recognize the fact that the greatest threat posed to Israel is not ISIS, is not Hezbollah, Iran, or Hamas. Rather, the greatest threat to Israel is itself.

The reason for this is that if Israel continues on its current path of colonialist settlement of the West-Bank and of East Jerusalem (non-Jewish quarter part of the aforementioned) a two-state solution will become impossible. In such a situation Israel would have to choose between it being a Jewish state and being a Democratic one. To a Zionist such as myself, this choice is unacceptable and would constitute a disaster. But this is the course Israel is quickly heading on.

The solution is a leftist revolution in Israel. This will involve drastic changes in the political scene in Israel, Palestine, and the Diasporas of both the Palestinians and the Jewish people. I will get more into the need about changes in our American Jewish community in another article.

But in Israel we need a change so revolutionary that a leftist party such as Meretz gains 40 to 50 seats in the Knesset, with Likud and everything to the right of it disappearing. The United Arab List or (an)other party(ies) would be composed of entirely liberal and non-communist members. All the ultra-religious parties would be gone. The only right-wing parties would be moderate conservative parties such as Kulanu which would only hold a maximum of 25 seats. They would be a necessary evil to balance out the left. But at any rate the Knesset and Israeli society would look nothing like it does now.