The compelling story on security and Judaism that the Israeli Left needs to rise from the flames

The Israeli Left will not recover until it confronts the Right’s dominant narratives on these two issues, writes ITTAY FLESCHER.

The most important question posed during this recent election campaign was asked by Channel 13 journalist Tamar Ish Shalom to Benny Gantz on October 26, just after the IDF raided Nablus.

Three members of the Lion’s Den terror group were killed in the raid, which came in response to several attacks on IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.

There were also two Palestinian civilians killed, – Hamdi Sharaf, 30, and Ali Antar, 26 – unarmed barbers who were on their way home from work when the raid occurred.

In light of the tensions raised by this incident, the question asked to the Israel Defence Minister was, “Will the IDF operation in Nablus reduce terror?”

After pausing for a moment, Gantz gave a waffling answer, initially saying no, then later saying Israel will continue to fight extremism, because there is “no bang and we are finished” to the war on terror.

One would have thought that the Left would have seized on this comment to offer an alternative vision for how Israel could protect itself without being stuck in a terrible cycle of violence, but the interview was totally ignored.

 In fact, the left-wing parties of Meretz and Labour barely spoke about security at all this election, with the Labor campaign mainly focusing on its pledge to have public transport run on Shabbat, and the Meretz campaign reverting to the same gevalt narrative that saved them the last four times, warning that “if you don’t vote Meretz, the Bibi-Kahanist coalition will get 61.”

They were right in the Doomsday predictions.  Had Meretz and Arab party Balad reached the electoral threshold, the result could have been 60-60. Instead, the Netanyahu coalition has a comfortable majority with 64 seats.

The result is part of a long decline of the vote received by left-wing parties in Israel. Back in 1992, the year Yitzhak Rabin was elected, Labor and Meretz won a combined 44% of the vote. They were down to 28% in 1999, 20% in 2003 following the suicide bombing wave of the Second Intifada, 19% in 2006 and 13% in 2009.

 “In the five-election run of the past 43 months, the Left’s fortunes all but collapsed, with it winning 8%, 9%, 6%, 10.7% and 7%. In other words, the Israeli Left didn’t collapse in a sudden, recent Rightist lurch of the electorate. It has been in a tailspin for three decades,” wrote Times of Israel analyst Haviv Rettig Gur after the recent result.

The Zionist Left no longer receives much support from Arab Israelis, while Jewish-Israelis are far more hawkish and religiously traditional then they were 30 years ago, meaning there is much less of a market for the dovish secular views of the Left.

What can be done to turn this tide? Reclaim the narrative on two key issues: security and Jewish identity.

Israelis didn’t see one ad or speech from Meretz or Labor this election explaining to Israelis how the painful comprises required to reach an agreement with the Palestinians will be worth the risk, because only peace can give us all the long term security we so desperately desire.

We didn’t see them once raise the terrible cost we pay for maintaining the status quo, both in terms of moral standing towards the nations of the world or the impact it has on the soldiers who serve, given the soaring rates of PTSD in the country.

Where was the campaign calling for greater time for the study of Arabic in the Israeli curriculum and the promotion of democratic values and discourse throughout society? Where was the campaign calling for gradually lifting the siege on Gaza and allowing Palestinians that have security clearance to work and interact with Israelis as a means of breaking the stronghold Hamas has had over the past decade on the besieged strip?

If Meretz and Labour are not going to stake their claim in the public square about how their vision will make Israelis safer, they shouldn’t be surprised when there are no buyers for it.

On the issue of Jewish identity, one of the most striking incidents that dominated election coverage on election day happened in Netanya where a man wearing a Meretz t-shirt objected to a Chabad tefillin stall for people who may want to lay tefillin before they vote. Angry at what he saw was a form of religious bribery that he felt was illegal (it isn’t), the man grabbed the tefillin and placed them over his genitals in an action that outraged many Israelis.

Meretz quickly issued a statement distancing themselves from the desecration of the holy object and declared that the individual had nothing to do with the party. He may have been an impostor from a rival party. But the damage had been done.

 Within hours, the leaders of both Likud and Shas released videos of themselves holding tefillin, emphasising their importance to the Jewish nation. Netanyahu even brought a pair to a campaign event in Ashkelon, with tefillin in one hand and a megaphone in the other. He declared that unlike Meretz, “We preserve the heritage of Israel, we are in favour of a Jewish state and that we will never give up on our traditions because our traditions is our future.” The crowd went wild.

Religious Zionism MK Itamar Ben-Gvir also condemned the incident. “It’s shocking and painful to see what happened in Netanya, when a Meretz activist publicly desecrated a set of tefillin at a Chabad booth. As public security minister I will address such actions,” he said in a statement, urging people to vote for the Religious Zionism Party “so such incidents are put to rest”.

In one of the more unlikely images from election day, later in the afternoon dozens of Meretz volunteers were seen wearing tefillin as a sign that they are not against Judaism or tradition.

Kfar magazine editor Menachem Cohen shared one of these images, noting that following the incident that morning, a Meretz volunteer said to a Chabadnik, “I’ll wear tefillin if you wear a Meretz sticker.”

It was one of the most beautiful and unexpected images I saw from this whole election. For if the Left is to have any relevance going forward, it must speak a much more Jewish language, honouring and respecting the traditions of this land, while giving them new interpretations that align with the values of modernity and democracy.

They must also speak to the very real security concerns that led so many Israelis to support far-Right parties, and give compelling arguments explaining how ensuring equality for all is the best insurance against terrorism and violence.

Until the Left works out a way to speak to both these issues, it will keep losing elections. Given that they are about to experience many years in opposition if not oblivion, one can only hope they use this time to constructively develop a new vision that can animate and inspire new generations to support a politics of solidarity, fairness and justice for all.

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