Saving left-wing Zionism

“In recent years, we have learned that anything about Jewish nationalism that riles or arouses disgust is, when placed in the context of Arab or Palestinian nationalism, worthy of the understanding and forgiveness of many on the Israeli left, who respond with embarrassed silence or even pathetic attempts at justification,” says Alexander Jacobson in an interesting article in Ha’aretz, about the need for Meretz to redefine its position after the party’s poor showing in the election.

Meretz’s basic political premise is ‘two states for two peoples’. Jacobson argues that many voters who left the party feel that the Jewish-Israeli side of ‘two states for two peoples’ - the Jewish people's right to a country of its own - is not ensured.

“Arab nationalists on both sides of the Green Line, backed by the radical Jewish left, have negated this premise,” he writes.

“Those who still want to save the Zionist left must indeed sharpen their positions. They must simply state the truth about both sides in the conflict in a sharp and clear fashion, as befits a person who speaks of the exaltedness of equality and universality.”