This is a cross-post from Marc Goldberg
The undeniable truth is that the Left never really recovered from the assassination of Rabin. The withdrawal from Gaza and subsequent takeover by Hamas was simply another nail in the coffin for the Left which has never really managed to return to former glory. In fact after all that has happened since we withdrew from Gaza in 2005 it’s as if we are actually getting attacked more all around the world than we were when we were still there.
In an eloquent op-ed about the political state of play TOI’s editor David Horovitz laid the problem bare when he said of Shelly Yachimovich’s Labour Party that;
“The party of former chief of staff Yitzhak Rabin, the one-time party of government, has offered no leadership in these elections on shaping our relations with the Palestinians. Discredited by the failure of the Oslo process and by Yasser Arafat’s duplicity, bereft of the assassinated Rabin, confounded by Mahmoud Abbas’s impossible mix of English-language conciliation and Arabic viciousness, it abandoned the security-diplomatic agenda. It mustered no credible ex-generals or security chiefs to galvanize the electorate, contriving to lose even its own ex-general and former leader Amram Mitzna to Tzipi Livni’s doubtless transient Hatnua.”
In spite of the uncomfortable truth of his words I still find myself gearing up to vote for Labour in 11 days time. My choice to vote Labour is not an instinctive one nor was it an easy choice to make particularly given my recognition of just how weak and fragmented the Leftist bloc really is. The reason to vote Left hasn’t changed in spite of the failures of Oslo and the withdrawal from Gaza.
The reason goes deep down into the identity of the State itself. When we took control of the West Bank we took control of more than land, we are now responsible for the lives of Palestinians and have been for over 40 years, an entire generation has grown up under Israeli rule and knows nothing else. For me Israel is the light in the world, for a Palestinian Israel is the dark, this situation has to come to an end!
The policies of the Left have failed to bring about peace for Israel in no small measure due to the work of extremists who are aware that the more of the other side they kill the less chance there is of peace and the more recruits flock to their banner. I will be voting Labour because I can’t stand by and watch while the principles upon which this country was founded are ignored, I cannot sit by and watch while irresponsible politicians promise the world only to deliver nothing more than misery and pain.
The Left is the only place I have to register my discontent at the irresponsible way in which the current government is sowing the seeds of further conflict rather than making any constructive efforts to secure a meaningful future for the country. When all is said and done the Labour Party will never stop trying to create a better future for us by finding a way for us to live together with our neighbours rather than an excuse to kill them, dominate them and marginalise efforts for peace.
