Israel's liberals are suffering political paralysis

One could argue that Likud is a Liberal movement. Someone said this before, but Liberalism has become a vague concept nowadays. I consider myself a Liberal in the sense that I support the free exchange of ideas, an open market economy and a vibrant civic society. Most Americans, however, equate being a Liberal with being a social-democrat. It all depends on your background, I suppose.But to return to Israel, Likud, Kadima, and, strange enough, Yisrael Beitenu for that matter, all represent different incarnations of Liberal doctrine when it comes to internal Israeli policies. The obstacles to the liberalisation of family law and social security has often come from the religious right or Labour. And Yisrael Beitenu, which is very selective in its proposals (freedom from the shackles of religion, but not if you are an Israeli Arab). If the author means to say that proponents of the two-state solution are not being heard, then I do agree. All in all: a good piece!

If Israel`s Liberals are fading, you must admit that just as in the USA, it is very obvious that the people of both democracies are rejecting most of the Left`s agendas in favor of rational, independent thinking. A well oiled democratic nation does tend to reject both extremes. Count it all a blessing if Obama and the Israeli equal of Nancy Pelosi never link up and force Israel to capitulate to your very conservative religious enemies. Why does the Left support Islam; so opposed to everything the Left says it values? Liberals, or whackos fading?

Unfortunately, I must agree with LS. As a political moderate (and I am Orthodox), the situation really does seem hopeless to me. As time goes on, any sense of rational objectivism is going to disappear from Israeli public discourse. If the right thinks that they can remain part of the modern world, they are deluding themselves. By selling their souls to haredi lunacy, the nation will become a backwater and eventually self-destruct.

Agree with Abe. Except that the PLO accepted 22% in 1988 in Geneva... and Israel as a Jewish state at that same time. We really never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, we Israelis -- disempowered as we are as civil society by the "shuttlers" and "peace makers" and "peace envoys"... :-)

Carlo Strenger says: "The prediction that if Israel would offer the two-state solution along the 1967 borders, Palestinians would accept it, turned out to be wrong" Barak never offered the Green Line as a border!! He wanted to keep all the major settlement blocs and most of the settlers intact, and sovereignty over the Old City. The Palestinians had to say no to that, it was a lousy offer and would never give Palestine viability. Barak then lied to the peace camp, which fell for the lies. Tragically, we have never made a generous offer. Had we agreed to the Green Line, it would have been signed. Taba proved that but the elections made us call off the talks.

"an unequivocal acceptance of the two-state solution and immediate dismantling of isolated settlements." Only the isolated settlements? This article does not analyse why the 'liberal left' failed. They did not insist on a proper two state solution - with the whole of the Occupied Territories and illegally annexed East Jerusalem returned the Palestinians. Yitzhak Rabin's transformation into a peacenik was yet to be tested - as he was the one in favour a Wall and the annexation of the Jordan valley back in the 70s. Even Peace Now was wedded to its Zionist roots of total separation, rather than peaceful co-existence. All of Israel's political parties had Greater Israel as their agenda, and did everything to pursue it. It is Israel that always deliberately missed an opportunity for missing an opportunity for a real and just peace. Nothing less than a UN presence and force to administer international law and UN resolutions will work.

When speaking of truth, one must look at context and perception. Living in the middle east, and I have done so, gives one a different perspective and reality than living in the US, as I have also done. The way truth is percieved is based on contest, I don't think people in either country deliberately set out to decieve themselves, they see things with a very different perspective. In each case, the partner in a dialog may say what sounds to the casual listener to be the same thing. The meaning is quite different. Please be aware of the context and local dialog partner before commenting on deception and truth.

with a 2 state solution there will be war.

The pure laziness of Israel`s so-called left has done nothing but whine and complain while allowing Bibi et al to run amok. Any Israeli leftist has absolutely no room to criticize. Just put up or shut up. I`m more politically engaged in promoting a peace agenda than any of you and I`m living in Florida for frig`s sake. J-Street is about that. They are picking up the slack you dropped and you can only blame yourselves. Supporting a peaceful resolution to Middle East problems, electing a moderate government, and making sure Israel is a civil society is what should concern you, not Jewish organizations in the USA. I say those who want a better future and a peaceful future for the region are the Zionists and Bibi and the lazy left are not. Unless the left can be reactivated you deserve each other. Get up off the couch and do something or Lieberman will be your chief diplomat and Ayalon will continue to blunder all over the world with all of the friends Israel has left.

... uncertain of the outcome of too frank an appraisal... there are a lot of undemocratic fanatics in charge... they hold the power... ...the heinous murder of Rabin... then Baraks's defeat in 2000... hope experienced blows from which we're still reeling... ...Labor is disintegrating... Even Tzipi is tottering... ...please forgive this pessimism... one fears for the fate of grand-children, should they not adapt to the prevailing norms...

You sew what you reap. Israel has to move on from the failure of Oslo and try again. Or not. Instead it can remain a power of occupation, an increasingly undemocratic and unethical state which will be shunned by the wider world, and at the same time probably move more towards becoming a theocracy. Jews like I who believed so much in the need and right to have a Jewish homeland will increasingly cut our ties with the state, many Israelis will leave - and those who like to live in a theocratic fortress can do so. Ultimately those remaining Jews will be far outnumbered by their Arab neighbours and the circle will have been completed with simply enclaves of ultra-orthodox Jews living in the region, as was the case prior to the state.

Thats why Labour has experienced its biggest election defeat ever and the reason is the party is out of touch with reality. All the polls show that if an election were held right now Labour would loose more seats and Likud would win more. They want to reverse alot of the policies Bibi introduced as finance minister which took Israel from a socialist economy to a strong one. Yuli Tamir and other liberals want a return to the days where the state owned everything & nothing worked well. The liberal left also like to turn a blind eye to new reality if they clash with old ideals. Kadima is a left wing party but they are closer to centre left than liberal left which is one reason why so many Labour voters chose them. Barak is saying he wants to reform the party make it a more centre left party rather than the traditional liberal left and he is facing alot of internal opposition from MKS & party members. Liberal left is fine for a pioneering young sate a mature one needs modern policies

How many missiles, suicide bombings, Hamas/Hizbollah genocidal rantings, Iranian calls for Genocide, Palestinian Charters STILL calling for Israel's destruction and a return of their "refugees," Arab refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish ancestral home, Jihadism, Islamofascism, Syrian militarism, Leftist and Israeli Arab subversion and sedition, failed socialist policies (which we are still trying to undo)- can an Israeli take?! I am surprised a Left of any kind is in existence in Israel today. Only delusional ideologues, demagogues, and the truly ignorant could subscribe to failed policies based in ignorance, appeasement, and a obsolete parochial ideology! The secular right-wing dominates today because it has successfully combined Zionist principles (love of the ancestral Jewish homeland) and free market economic policies to strengthen Israel rather than weaken it as did the Left in the 1990s.

In Europe the times when conservitave government reigned supreme were cald the DARK AGES and MID-EVIL . The intafada did not happen because you went too left but because you wanted your cake and to eat it too. When the Palestinian people dont see that they are getting their water back and israel wants to control everything the the Palestinian CONSERVATIVES came to power

Thanks to a recent supreme court ruling in the US, special interest groups can spend unlimited funds on political campaigns. This was a major win for Israel and Israel's current regime. AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbies can give above the counter now, limitlessly, to promote the interests of Jewish Political Zionism. Also, this article touts the liberal, peace loving nature of the Israeli liberal class. The numbers must be dwindling if a nationalist, racist, hawk like Lieberman can be democratically elected foreign minister. Someone please explain. Even, in the ultra conservative US we wouldn't stand for an openly racist criminal foreign minister.

Jpost's Caroline Glick makes the following quote on a video "time is not working in our favor by this continued maintenance of 'allegiance to state' paradigm". Its notable that her crowd at JPost have a strategic view of Israel's national weakness, but tactically they are unarmed (because they have used all their weapons aggressively, perhaps). Haaretz's strategic view, nicely summarized by Stenger, has limited understanding of the parallel individual strategic danger (i.e., ceasing to exist, aka death), but has tactics that are very effective. For right now, Glick's crowd rules the roost in Tel Aviv.

1) Israel is fed up with Left's marxist class warfare and failed, crackpot socialism that has dragged down Israel's economy and investment for 50 years; they're now nearly powerless, and the voters want it that way. Russian immigrant voters want no more of the Marxist thinking they thought they left behind in the USSR 2) The Left's failed foreign policy, from the failings of Golda in '73 to the disaster of the Left's Oslo debacle, to Barak's priming of Hezbollah in Lebanon to antics of "Binoculars Peretz" as DM, the Left has shown that their incompetance will eventually get everybody KILLED! 3) The anti-religious mentality of the Left, dating back to the 1950's, is simply out of touch with the increasingly Jewish practice fervor of Israel's growing religious-Jewish community. Shulamit Aloni flaunting pork sandwiches in front of synagogues on Yom Kippur is imagery that will never go away. BOTTOM LINE: Israel's Left is actually far, FAR left of "liberal". Dinosaurs facing extinction.

Having drew Israel into crazy Oslo process that resulted in creation of Hamastan, the liberals committed political suicide.

Arab incitement has killed "two-states" in the minds of Jews. Liberals know that Israel can not cede Judea without a civil war and from the Arabs they don't get any help at all only hate. The question for Israelis is not their image it is their safety.

It is no uncommon in business to have a 360 degrees job review. Yes, the liberals want a two state solution. Europeans Multiculturism, Libetarians rights to the individuals. But one day they abandon "want" and use reason to view reality. They see, in the case of Israel, a sea of totalitarian regimes, persecutions of the other (e.g. coptics in Egypt, Christians Iraq, etc), they see intolerance, corruption,etc ,etc. They look at the 'Integrated' liberal Europe and see the product of enlightenment give ground to practices which are medieval at best with Sharia getting progressively ground through the fight of the educated and generations who have not experienced the full horrors of persecution as they grew up int he West. They see Shite killing Sunis, Suni's killing Shite, they see Darfur, slavery, womens rights,they see media which promotes promotes hate of the wost kind, they see a cultures who celebrate death and afterlife- they see reality and realize "want" does not deal with reality

Its not a problem of leaders. Israelis have cultivated so many deceptions among themselves, that their children have come to believe things that just are not true. That creates a problem. Something has to "yield" or disappear. Truth has a habit of being persistent, so I would not bet against it.

People who fear change = weak. Yes, everything could get screwed up and go wrong, but it could also go relatively well. Nobody is going to get a 100% of certainty. And certainly not by force. "Liberal", is a term that has mostly a weird negative image in current Israel. "Realistic" is more accurate. Anybody thinking they can have a better life living forever in this sh***y status quo is mentally challenged, and has very low expectations from life.

Most of the worst lies are spread by the Israeli leftisits who had long sold their souls to enemy.

In most countries initiatives from peace loving talk-and-compromise left do not result in explosion of number of civilian terrorism victims as did happen in Israel. I mean, I sort of imagine that it is propably hard to have supported Oslo and to have a neighbour for example who lost a loved one in a suicide bomb attack afterwards.

The problem for Carlo Strenger and his friends is that when you lose an election you don't get to go on running the country. That is democracy. Maybe if they start rethinking their basic assumptions now they will have some chance of winning more votes at the next elections in about four years.

Democrats are Republicans with a softer taste, they essentially believe just like Republicans that the American people are right of the political spectrum by instinct and that they will never beat guts, guns and God. They are GOP's cleaning boys, they clean up GOP's mess and submissively take the blame for whatever stain remains on the floor. I remember a Dutch journalist asking Clinton just after Monica why Democrats were never fighting as mean and predetory as Republicans. He answered: "we just are not like that" and looked very proud and satisfied about his choice to be 'civiliozed' in political combat.

Maybe the left, especially the labor party failed to develop its next generation of leaders. Clearly, Likud trained several potential leaders now scattered through Likud and Kadima, even Liberman was trained in Likud. Who was trained in Labor? Labor stifled whatever young talent that may have been there.

Medina was once inhabited by jews because at the time, that was the first book God sent down to the world. but since then many converted to Christianity than to Islam. You assume that we do not know History, but the fact is we probably know more than you, God sent the Bible to correct the jews ways, and when that did work he sent the Koran. and so if you think about it the people who inhabit all of the arab world were once practicing jews. Now with all that out, would it not be true that the tribes of isrl already existed on all those lands, and the jews who came from europe, who's forefathers converted to judaism and zionism, are not the true people of those lands?

Among the very pleasant but teribly naive principles of Liberel thought is that "since all people are equal, they must all be alike, in fact JUST like me and thus think like I do as well". This lead to "what would I do/want if I were a Palestinian", which lead to "land for peace." However, the Liberals were in essence betrayed by the Palestinians who DID NOT share Western liberal values. It might have been smarter to ASK the Palestinans what they were thinking and wanted rather than to presume. As it turns out, their actions tell us that they don't WANT compromise ("Oslo is a 'Trojan Horse' etc)and so ended the liberal approach.

In my view, I wish Palestinians had a better understanding of the Israeli psyche and could speak to us in a language that could make real change. I think the Palestinians speaking to us, understanding us and we understanding what they want is the only way forward other than more war.

That was a very insightful comment, and something that the author of this piece should really have noted. Left-wing and liberal movements always seem to be weaker than liberal-minded folk hope or expect, partly because they are so fragmented. To oversimplify: there is basically only one way to be "conservative" (just keep stuff like it is now) but a myriad ways to be "progressive" (everyone has a different vision for the future). You're also correct that liberals have less success at peace negotiations. A liberal party doing so comes under strong internal pressures, opposition pressure, and also electoral pressure, that means it is not in a position of strength. Arabs expect more concessions than they can politically provide. Right-wing parties when in power have a better negotiating hand, expectations are safely lower, and pressure from the liberal opposition more manageable (they rarely will call out "traitor" on a necessary concession). The best hope for peace is not the left.

I too have always voted for whichever party looked most likely to go for peace - and it seems that the more we pushed for peace the more the other side demanded, until now we have reached the stage where they beleive that they can get what they want - or the first stage of it - without peace. And the worst part is that what upsets us is that we are not only losing the hasbara war, but we do not even have anyone fighting in our corner - Amir Peres may have posed looking at an exercise through binoculars with the caps on - but that is far less dangerous than a foreign minister who cannot even see what planet he lives on. Bibi - one of your wife's ex cleaning ladies could also sit on your seat and do nothing - we actually do expect you to do something - are you a leader?

NGO's are ALSO committed to subverting israeli sovereignty. but who cares right carlo? the only "boorish" behaviour in israel is that of the left, co- opted by terrorist sympathizers..israelis correctly wanted a government that learned from the past and dealt in reality. No more dove crap...it was PROVEN that in REALITY, the arabs reject ALL OF ISRAEL, not just this western and european fantasy of WB and Gaza.

Liberal ideas are all very well when when all disagreements can be settled by discussion and,if necessary,people can agree to disagree and still get along together.But at the moment Israel's enemies are at the door and trying to batter it down. If they get in,all Jewish Israelis,liberal,hard-line or middle-of-the-road,get shot against the same wall or get atomised by the same nuke,if Iran gets its way. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

It seems to me that the word liberalism has been abused to the point that nobody knows what it means, the same applies to left wing and right wing points of view, particularly in certain countries. Liberalism or left wing is now code for surrenderer or someone who does not want direct confrontation whereas right wing is code for confrontational, abrupt and all me me me These 2 camps have resulted in certain countries a stigma attack on either side and an us or them camp. Whatever happened to think first and decide next course of action advantageous to the individual? All we have now is either 'bend over backwards' or 'shoot first and ask questions later' policies. If we keep veering down this route then wars will invevitably occur.

Israelis-and jews - want peace, of course. They do not want any old 'peace' which provides its demise. Gaza proved at last the folly of such a suicidal course of action.

From 1999-2000 and from 2005-2009 Israel had left leaning governments which did every thing possible to try to reach an agreement. Lieberman is right when he said that for 16 years of negotiation there has been no agreement, even without Lieberman. So stop whining and blaming Bibi for everything. And having a progressive liberal society has nothing to do with being Labor or Likud.

Just because someone's culturally "liberal" - which in this context may mean not following all the tenets of Orthodoxy literally, playing Western-style music, creating modern film and TV - doesn't mean they don't love their country. Oh, but loving their country is nationalist and right-wing and illiberal and bad? Not a bit of it! Not when you live so near to so many repressive, medieval Arab states - a modern culture and society in the Middle East must be fought for, or it will perish. Some Israeli cultural liberality is an illusion: as in all countries, arts & media are run by creative people who tend to be more risk-taking and liberal-leaning (look at Hollywood or Bollywood). Media is unrepresentative of people at large. But yes, compared to Hamas or the Iranian mullahs, we're incredibly liberal. If we don't want to live under the regime of Hamas or the mullahs (or be slaughtered by them) we know we need to be strong and stand up for ourselves. We vote with our heads, for our lives

This article shows why the Israeli liberal left is in fact bankrupt. The Palestinian street understood full well that Oslo was an attempt to legalize an apartheid regime under the cover of "separate but equal." Israel never intended, and Strenger and his 70% of Israeli public opinion do not intend for there to be a genuine sovereign state, with an army, foreign alliances and control over its natural resources, in the West Bank and Gaza. The Gaza pullout was a cover for the tightening of the screws on Judea and Samaria. Joe's quote from MLK (#4) is dead on. Gracias.

“For the time being the vibrant, creative and liberal Israel that I know continues to express itself in literature, film and music.” I agree with Stenger’s observation, and I believe the move is suicidal. Soon there won’t be any room left for them in the Spartan state Lieberman is slowly building. The political exit of liberal Israelis is paving the way for a Kahane-inspired Israel in which their moral, cultural, and even economic ambitions will be completely out-of-place. If the liberals don’t get back to the political scenery, they will end up in diaspora.

They followed Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Foucault's self-delusional postmodern philosophy straight into the political grave. RIP Global Left.

While I think that Mr. Strenger is largely correct in in his diagnosis of the current weakness of the Israeli left, I would like to add a couple of observations. The political leadership which advanced most of the movement toward peace with the Palestinians was never of the left. Even PM Rabin, though a leader of the peace movement, was never far the the political center. The left today is fragmented in part because the "left" is classically always fragmented. Liberals try to see all sides of an argument and often forget to see the forest for the trees. It is truly time for the myriad individual peace and leftist organizations to amalgamate once again in reaction to the pointless negotiations by which the present government seeks to avoid pressure from our overseas friends.

It is really quite simple, the stronger the existential threat becomes, the fear factor rises proportionally. Israels enemies should not revel in this fact because when people feel threatened, they create "martial"governments that would not have a chance to exist in tranquil times. That is where we are today, hostile governments at the brink of war. A lose-lose situation for all in the region.

People are taking back the country from the deranged liberals. Wait until this November! There will be an earthquake throughout the country.

I regret that it took you so long to realize the reality of the situation in which Israel exists. I was at the UN when partition was approved and heard the Arab delegates voice their undying desire to drive the Jews out. They started by driving over a million our who lived within their borders, many of whome had resided there for centuries. Their intentions were clear then and have not changed. By the way, how many of the talkbackers to Haaretz know that Medina, which is one of the cities visited by Muslims during the Haj, was once inhabited only by Jews. That is, until they were all killed by Mohammed, the prophet who sets an example all Muslims desire to follow.

This article shows why the Israeli liberal left is in fact bankrupt. The Palestinian street understood full well that Oslo was an attempt to legalize an apartheid regime under the cover of "separate but equal." Israel never intended, and Bradley and his 70% of Israeli public opinion do not intend for there to be a genuine soverign state, with an army, foreign alliances and control over its natural resources, in the West Bank and Gaza. The Gaza pullout was a cover for the tightening of the screws on Judea and Samaria. Joe's quote from MLK is dead on. Thanks, Joe in Tejas.

ever offer a genuine two state solution?oslo was an informal meeting that was discredited from the beginning by the likudists.the offer at camp david was a truncated cantonized disconnected israeli controlled rump state that if arafat had signed he would have been lynched by his people.(instead he was murdered so the lamb abbas would take his place)this is why i call israelis deluded,because you spew nonsense as truth.do unto others as you would have them do to you.its that simple.

bodies and minds. And it is not liberals , but only insane liberals . Otherwise Israel is more liberal then any other country on this globe , but they are just liberals with sanity as it should be in any normal society .

one thing for sure is that our dreams of peace were totally shattered by the intifada. this has its effect to these days. adding to this, the active left of more recent years is COMPLETELY ignoring the fact that it needs two to tango for peace, which alienates us even further from the left. further: social issues unconnected to the isr-pal conflict, were HIJACKED by the left. Just see what NIF does: maybe 90 % of its funding goes to issues which get a high support, but the 10% of extreme left rotten apples in the basket, have an effect on the 90% good apples. That is NIF's (and other's) strategic mistake. One thing should be clear: citizens are no fools and they will react according to the reality and perceived reality. both reality and percieved reality point to only disadvantages in strengthening the left in the elections. the left takes the public for fool, a shame! if the left wants to become relevant, it has to radically change its twisted and inconstistend psyche.

They will cower as the right destroys the nation. Then, after a moment of uprising, they will go back to cowering as the right blames them for all of the evil the right had done to make them mad. Liberals are just gutless wimps who are happy to be punching bags with kick me signs on their backs.

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro?s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen?s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ?order? than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says ?I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can?t agree with your methods of direct action;? who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man?s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a ?more convenient season.? Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail, 16 April 1963.

in gauging the pal willingness for peace and admits the constituency has all but wiped out the Lefties in elections. Then he continues with regretting the same Left can't make a comeback ,irrespectively of her failings.. How ? The unspoken premise of this Leftie Bird Phoenix resurrection must be a state coup ,a dictatorship to which the Left is so historically prone . Supporting of the Israel-hating NGOs is a "right step" for subverortors on the Left ,dreaming of subjugating Israel and turning the country over to the Beloved Revolutionary Palestinian Masses. And all this subversive planning on the money paid by happless Israeli public thru Stanger's Professor salary ,the public lied to and told it's in the name of the "academic freedom". Time the real revolution took place in Israel and the Will of People has been fully implemented. Stenger could then join his beloved Working Class ,earning living by ,for example ,being a stone mason and paving anew the formerly Rabin Sq. in TA .

I supported 2 states for 2 peoples, I celebrated Oslo, I voted Labour more often than not. Then the Intifada came, came to my home town, came to my neighborhood, and came deadly. It was the most painful wakeup call I have ever had to deal with. All of the ideas that I had taken for granted were crushed, or rather, blown up; body parts everywhere. Most of us have grown up and accepted this bitter reality. The Arabs don't want 2 states for 2 people. They want us dead and gone. This is what ha[ppened to the left; the ex-left.