The Beginning of the Disintegration of the Israeli Left

Truth will always win out. It may take a while though.

For years, the Israeli Left has been living in a self-imposed delusion. What is worse is that they’ve been imposing this delusion on the rest of the Israeli population.

The delusion, which has been running rampant for too many years, is that hostile Arabs can be appeased by pieces of land.

The delusion was brought to reality by the handing over of Sinai to Egypt. That single act has created a deceptive success. Success -- because it has indeed frozen the physical hostilities between Israel and Egypt. Egypt has honored the text of the agreement if not its spirit.

However, it is deceptive, because for Egypt it is merely a pause before resumption of its efforts to destroy the state of Israel and annihilate the Jewish people from the shores of the Middle East. One just needs to read selections from its official media to confirm these blatant facts.

In contrast, every single concession to the Palestinian Authority has resulted in obvious, direct and increased conflict. Nonetheless, the Left and its followers push on, and believe that the solution is to give more away.

The general public wants peace, and will follow and believe whoever promises it, with confidence, clarity and vision. The Left has been blessed with leaders that are clearly men of vision, of eloquence, of intelligence, of great persuasive powers and personal charisma. They have contributed over the years to the establishment, defense and growth of Israel in significant ways. They are men and women of honor and often well-meaning. However, they have been mistaken.

They are mistaken in the belief that the Moslem Arab population of the Middle East has any desire, interest or expectation of living in peace with a Jewish state. As long as a Jew is in Israel, he is a threat to local and surrounding Arabs. This is not to say that every Arab in the area is a bloodthirsty murderer waiting for the opportunity to kill a Jew. A significant percentage of the Arab population does want to live in peace and security and focus on making a living and raising their family. However, most would not cry if the Jew were to disappear. The Arab political, military and religious leadership on the other hand actively seeks the Jews’ death. This is where the Left is misguided and hopes to change or really ignore a difficult and painful reality.

Slowly but surely, the Jewish people are beginning to understand that ‘land for peace’ is no solution at all. That separation or disengagement will not lessen the Moslem thirst for Jewish blood. Unfortunately, the latest Intifada has done much to clarify this reality for many people. On the other hand, many have fallen into despair and hopelessness about the situation because of these selfsame terrorist attacks.

A turning point in the Jewish populations’ thinking occurred with the recent Likud vote on the Gaza disengagement proposal. Contrary to initial expectations, a significant majority rejected the plan. This came as a surprise to many people. The Left is now starting to explain why this major demonstration of resistance against further dismemberment of the land of Israel, is not really relevant.

But the house of cards is starting to wobble. The mistaken assumptions, the twisted logic, the poor judgment that the Left has exhibited is starting to show. There is a major disconnect between the current political leadership of Israel and the majority of the population. One of the saddest parts is that the political leaders don’t even realize it. They believe that there is a silent majority out there somewhere that thinks and believes exactly as they do.

This is not the case and they will discover this painfully and shockingly in the next election.

This will signify the begging of the crumbling of the Left, its supporters and institutions. The leaders will be powerless and relegated to making noise as talk-show guests.

Hopefully, future governments will be wise enough not to allow such misguided troublemakers to interfere, meddle or insinuate themselves into government affairs, as unfortunately has occurred in the past with disastrous results.