Why can't the Israeli Left seem to revive itself ?

[jojoju1998]

Why can't the Israeli Left seem to revive itself ?

[wnwnwn]

Shaz appeal to the social conservative economically progressiv people and Yesh Atid appeal to the socially liberal economically moderate/conservative people.

Also, I think that Labor is seen as too soft on defense and zionism in general.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Put simply, the second Intifada and now the 10/7 genocide have reduced the dove movement in Israel to a sliver. But we're seeing the revival of security libs as a powerful movement there now, maybe even the dominant one after Bibi is forced out.

[Oryxslayer]

Depends entirely on how you define Left. The types of voters who put Labor or Labor-type parties into power until recent decades are still there, and still voting for parties many would consider on the Left. In fact like most countries things like this are 50-50 in the past few years many elections, though recent court fights and conflicts have broken things in their favor.

Now if you define things in the far, far, unhelpfully narrow sense then you have to look at the history, cause in multi-party systems voters will just find more viable tickets if one is in trouble.

The first issue is that Labor-like parties started as the dominant party in Israel, but presiding over a multiparty system. PR systems around the world started as a 2 or 3 party system and over time smaller parties have multiplied off increasing voter information and weaking party connections. This created more parties in the "lane" of voters once occupied by Labor.

Secondly, Labor, like many multiparty European Soc-Dem/labor parties, is a old/'pensioner' party. The old people with memories and a history of party connections  stick by them even in the bad times. But newer voter groups don't have that history, and since this is a multiparty system, they move to other more viable tickets. And parties follow their voters, which could/did send voters to other parties in their Lane.

With all that said, the recent History of Labor was a struggle with these two factors. Declining vote share but a traditionally dominant role put them as members of coalitions against certain parts of their values. Which pushed more people away, more old people died, and the vicious cycle almost consumed them. Then Labor was more or less saved by the election repetition process of a few years ago. The polarization meant voters didn't want to see their 'block' fail, and loaned votes. Which providing breathing space for Labor to reorient into something more younger, more activist, more happy to team up with the Greens.

[CumbrianLefty]

I understand that "security" arguments have caused a major decline in the Israeli left, but you would still expect them to get a bit more support in elections than they generally do.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The old natural base for Labour is voting for gantz, and a more "normal" left can't develop because strong cultural identities supercede class-based cleavage in israeli society.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Israel has changed too much.

[Dr. MB]

Put simply, the second Intifada and now the 10/7 genocide have reduced the dove movement in Israel to a sliver. But we're seeing the revival of security libs as a powerful movement there now, maybe even the dominant one after Bibi is forced out.

I think it's very interesting how you define 10/7 as a genocide but reject the framing of the Gaza war as a genocide given the disproportionate amount of people it has killed

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Put simply, the second Intifada and now the 10/7 genocide have reduced the dove movement in Israel to a sliver. But we're seeing the revival of security libs as a powerful movement there now, maybe even the dominant one after Bibi is forced out.

I think it's very interesting how you define 10/7 as a genocide but reject the framing of the Gaza war as a genocide given the disproportionate amount of people it has killed

Was the US military assault on Japan a genocide?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

It should honestly be pretty straightforward.

An attack primarily targeting civilians, with the express intention of penetrating the heart of the country and slaughtering every man, woman, and child found is clearly an act of genocide.

A direct military response to that genocidal attack is not a genocide.

[Pres Mike]

Changing demographics

Ashkenazi Jews (European Jews) are just 45% of the Jewish population now. They were 80% in 1948. Historically, they supported Labour and leftist parties.

Mizrahi/Sephardi Jews (Middle Eastern Jews) tend to be more conservative and support rightwing and settler parties. They are 48% of Israeli Jews. Most of these Jews were exiled from other Arab nations like Iraq or Morocco.

Even Ashkenazi Jews aren't as liberal as they used to be, since about 10% of the Ashkenazi are Russian immigrants who came after 1991

The left hasn't elected a majority since 1999. Their victory in 2006 came from a short lived alliance between members of Likud and Labor to support Sharon's peace plan.

[It’s so Joever]

The average Israeli at this point is an advocate of River to the sea, but in reverse based on the election results of these past few cycles. It’s just great to see Israel has turned into the new Gaza in sheer ideological insanity.

[LabourJersey]

One thing to also note is that Israel is less secular than it used to be. More Israelis are Haredim, and even the Ashkenazi are more religious now than they collectively were a generation ago. Even the young Israelis are more observant, which makes then even more different than the mostly secular American young Jewish community.

[Horus]

It can't. Everything a normal left or even center left party would stand for is antithetical to where Israeli society, especially Israeli youth, stand now.

[patzer]

The mindset of the country has changed too much compared to back when Labor Zionism was strong. A revival would probably require a fusion of left wing economics with firm nationalism, similar to Sahra Wagenknecht in Germany.

[MyLifeIsYours]

Maki is the only chance to reignited any left-wing change in the state of Israel.