In Israel, there’s no left. There’s only a right in different forms - Opinion
Gideon Levy – Jan 03, 2019 4:17 AM
▻https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/in-israel-there-s-no-left-there-s-only-a-right-in-different-forms-1.6805651
Two days ago, there was another rift in the Israeli right: The Zionist Union faction split apart. The two main right-wingers, Tzipi Livni and Avi Gabbay, Likud traitors both, dissolved their partnership.
The sad and unbelievable joke: Israel fancies this a rift on the left; as if there are seriously two camps in Israel, left and right, locked in fierce battle over the face of the nation. There is no left, not even half a left. There is only a right, in different forms.
What is going on in our political system ahead of the upcoming election can be described like this: Right A versus Right B, a split in Right C, a possible merger in Right D, and a new glimmer of hope in Right E.
Meretz and the Joint List, the only Israeli left there is, one small and fading and the other ostracized and excluded, and both without any influence, look on from the other side of the fence. And still people say that Israel is “polarized,” that we’re this close to civil war breaking out. It’s hard to think of anything more ridiculous.
Most leaders of Israeli political parties are former Likudniks: Livni, Gabbay, Avigdor Lieberman, Ayelet Shaked, Naftali Bennett, Moshe Ya’alon and Moshe Kahlon. Orly Levy-Abekasis also grew up in a Likud household. Right, center, supposed left – they all came out of the Likud. And that’s no surprise – the right was their home and it remains their home.
This is the Likud’s real victory since the 1977 upheaval – its amazing takeover of the entire map, the way it continues to spread its tentacles in every direction. (...)