There is no reason for the Israeli Left to disappear - opinion

On Friday evening, Channel 11 presenters Yair Weinreb and Keren Uzan hosted a panel that inter alia included Dr. Ephraim Sneh, a former Labor Party MK and deputy minister of defense during Yitzhak Rabin’s second government.

The subjects discussed were the much-delayed announcement by Labor Party chairperson Merav Michaeli, of her plan to resign from her chairmanship of the party and not present herself as a candidate for membership of the Knesset in the elections to the 26th Knesset (whenever those will occur). 

Also discussed was the announcement by former Meretz MK, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yair Golan, that he is planning to form a new left-wing party to replace the Labor Party, as well as Meretz, which had failed to pass the qualifying threshold to the 25th Knesset.

Sneh, 79, rarely appears in the media, even though he served for many years as a senior army doctor, and later as Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, with the rank of brigadier general, before serving as deputy minister of defense.

He spoke of the relevance of left-wing positions in the current situation, even though there seems to be a general consensus among Israeli Jews that the events of October 7 were a heavy blow to what remains of the Israeli peace camp.

Uzan, who like several other presenters on Channel 11 (including the more senior Ayala Hasson) does not hide her contempt for the Israeli Left, kept interrupting Sneh, repeatedly asking him, in a mocking tone: “Who do you think would vote, these days, for a left-wing party?” The mild-tempered Sneh did not react, and just continued to try and complete what he wanted to say.

This contemptuous attitude toward the Left is most typical of Channel 14, especially the program The Patriots, which enjoys a relatively high rating among right-wing viewers. I watch it regularly, even though in the next general elections I will most probably vote for the party that Golan forms. 

On October 7, the 61-year-old Golan put on his army uniform, drove south to the Gaza border communities, helped save quite a few civilians, and killed numerous terrorists. For his humanistic/patriotic conduct, Golan has won a good deal of public admiration – not only from left-wingers.

OF COURSE, it is not just the right-wing TV channel, and TV presenters on other channels, who declare the Left to be dead. An acquaintance, who in the recent elections voted for Yesh Atid, said to me the other day that there is no longer Right and Left in Israel, because the Left no longer exists.

Does the Left still exist?

“Do I look like thin air to you?” I asked. But he continued: “We should kill all the Palestinians or push them out. After October 7, I don’t want them around anymore.”

I responded that besides reflecting a despicable extreme right-wing attitude, Israel has neither of these two options. Killing all the Palestinians is tantamount to genocide, which is illegal under international law.

Regarding the idea of moving 2 million Gazan inhabitants out of the Gaza Strip and into the Sinai Peninsula or Jordan: Egypt and Jordan have rejected such an idea out of hand, while none of the other Arab states, including the rich and spacious ones, seems eager to absorb any large numbers of them.

Recently two MKs – Danny Danon (Likud) and Ram Ben-Barak (Yesh Atid) – presented a plan to get foreign states to accept 10,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and thus rid Gaza of its Palestinian population.

It is not clear where they could find 200 states willing (or able) to take in 10,000 Gazans each. The fact that Muslim refugees are not especially welcome these days anywhere in the Western world doesn’t add to the feasibility of this idea.

Most Jewish Israelis, I believe, consider my acquaintance’s suggestion as just a temporary expression of outrage. But I am sure that a majority, including many left-wingers like myself, agree that those who committed the atrocities on October 7 deserve to die. They will not object to the application of the death sentence on the worst Hamas (and other) offenders who survived the inferno. Those who have been captured by our forces will be put on trial in Israel, in due course.

I also do not maintain, as President Joe Biden does, that a majority of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, do not, or did not, support Hamas. However, to accuse all Palestinians of being directly responsible for the acts of October 7 is simply not justified by the facts. 

Undoubtedly, there is no left-winger in Israel today – among those who strongly support attempts to actively seek a peaceful solution to the conflict with the Palestinians – who was not affected by the events of October 7. 

Both the horrendous conduct of Hamas, and the formal reaction of the Palestinian Authority to the events of that day, do not indicate that there is anyone to talk to at the moment about a peaceful, long-term solution of any sort. 

The question is whether one rejects a compromise solution on principle – either on religious or ideological grounds – or simply accepts the fact that at least in the foreseeable future such a solution is not feasible.

In our particular situation, being left-wing does not mean that one is willing to commit suicide for the sake of peace, or that humanitarian principles stand above all other principles in every situation. 

It does mean that one believes that all the other options for the future, except for the constant search for peaceful solutions based on compromise – such as those mentioned above, or a single state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, in which only Jews enjoy full civil and human rights – are less realistic or viable, in the long run.

As to humanitarian principles, the fact that Hamas acted in a monstrous and criminal manner against us on October 7, and is currently acting cruelly and brutally against Palestinian civilians in Gaza (for example, when Hamas uses force to steal from them humanitarian aid that Gazans received from international organizations or states), doesn’t mean that we should give up all humanitarian principles in our conduct toward Palestinians, or in our relations among ourselves, for that matter.

Let us also remember that being left-wing is not only about seeking peace, or acting in accordance with humanitarian principles. Being left-wing also involves the belief in the welfare state, from whose services all sections of society are entitled to benefit equally, and not on a sectorial basis. 

It also involves a belief in a mixed economy in which both private and public sectors operate, side by side, based on which is more effective or efficient in each sector or sphere.

The events of October 7 have no bearing on any of these principles and beliefs. I believe that the Left in Israel is still worth at least eight Knesset seats, if not more. If it would only get its act together, there is no reason for the Israeli Left to disappear.

The writer worked in the Knesset for many years as a researcher, and has published extensively both journalistic and academic articles on current affairs and Israeli politics. Her most recent book, Israel’s Knesset Members – A Comparative Study of an Undefined Job, was published last year.