Farewell to One of Israel’s True Fighters on the Left

The political career of Shulamit Aloni, who died on Friday at 85, was an ongoing struggle for a just and egalitarian Israel. In her many years in the opposition and government, she was an undaunted fighter for human and civil rights as well as equality for women, while opposing religious coercion, the occupation and the settlements. She always preferred to fight for her position rather than compromise and try to advance politically or win a place in the government.

Aloni proved that sticking to and fighting for her principles paid off at the polls. She left the Labor Party and, after the Yom Kippur War, returned to the Knesset as the head of a new citizens’ rights party, Ratz.

She became head of Meretz, a united left-wing party, and led it to a historic 12 seats in the 1992 election. It was part of the unique peace coalition headed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Aloni’s clashes with the ultra-Orthodox cost her the education portfolio, but her political partnership with Rabin remained intact and made possible the signing of the Oslo Accords and the peace treaty with Jordan.

After Aloni retired from the Knesset, she continued to make her voice heard on public issues. With her sharp tongue, she warned Israel about the slippery slope of religious fascism, war crimes and the silencing of freedom of expression.

Her values should guide every Israeli who wants to live in a liberal, secular and egalitarian democracy. Alona’s agenda is relevant today more than ever, with the Netanyahu government turning Israel into an isolated fortress, repressing its citizens and threatened by international boycotts.

Aloni was an exception in Israeli politics by following the path she had taken when she was an attorney, author of civics textbooks and radio presenter in the 1960s. Her adherence to her principles, even when they cost her politically, is an example for every public figure seeking to generate change, not just to hold office. Even her most bitter opponents among Likud’s leaders, first and foremost Benjamin Netanyahu, respected her “determination and firmness,” as her eulogizers have put it.

Aloni’s successors on the Zionist left have never been able to repeat her electoral success. Only now are opinion polls once again favorable, with Meretz under Zahava Gal-On’s leadership standing alone among the Zionist parties in the struggle against Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

Gal-On presents herself as Aloni’s clear protégé and student. If she continues down the path of the party’s founding mother, she can restore Meretz to its influential position in Shula’s heyday.