It is said that when Israelis vote Left they get a Leftist government, and when they vote Right they still get a Leftist government. Conventional wisdom says this happens because the Left is so powerful in Israel the only way a Prime Minister can survive is to lean Left. If this is true, Rightist Likud is cursed.
Is a Right-leaning Likud cursed because Israelis—and a Prime Minister--know that Left is the only way to go? Or is conventional wisdom wrong?
To answer these questions, remember that Israel has become more Right—and religious. A new Gutman Center research report finds 80% of Israeli Jews believe in G-d and 77% believe that G-d directs mankind and the world (see Arutz Sheva, News brief, Research: Israelis believe in G-d, January 26, 2012). These are huge numbers for a national population. They firmly establish what many have already noticed: the religious are increasingly joining the Right to exert a growing and visible influence in Israeli politics. They want strong leadership—and they demand steadfastness. They also have a candidate they can support for head-of-Likud, Moshe Feiglin. Their growing influence, and the extent of Feiglin’s base, suggest that Israel’s future will be determined not simply by Likud—Israel’s most powerful political party—but by how individual Likud voters sort out ideological and political ideals as they step into the Likud voting booth. Daniel Levy (who uses the following words to argue a different case), writing in The Middle East Channel, January 17, 2011, calls this growing Right/religious influence in Israel’s political arena ‘a reality that would have appeared inconceivable to Israel’s [non-religious] founders’. But its presence in Likud today is real; and that reality means that Feiglin has surprising strength.
We ignore that strength at our peril because history has changed us—and our leadership needs. First, religion in Israel is no longer the province of an unwanted minority. Also, Israel’s existence is so threatened that we no longer have the luxury of supporting an anti-Israel Leftist agenda. In a world that is increasingly hostile to the only Jewish State, Likud defends us with a strong pro-Israel Party Platform. Likud attracts many who are both pro-Israel and religious just at a time when Leftists want to un-Jewish Israel. They insist that we become a multicultural smorgasbord that would destroy everything that a pro-Israel, increasingly religious Israel majority believes in. The Left opposes Israel’s majority. They know that. They also know—and they have already written-- that their hold on power is virtually over.
Why does a Likud leader want to turn Left? Likud has what Israel’s majority wants: a nationalist agenda. The Likud Platform has support from both religious and non-religious voters. More important, non-religious-but-Right Israelis see religious Jews working to defend Likud ideals. Religious nationalists, often excoriated in the press, actually gain respect with every headline against them. This respect grows because non-religious ‘centrists’ have been mugged by reality as the UN turns against Israel and the Left encourages Israel’s enemies. Those who stand most steadfast for Likud ideals are often the religious nationalist. This defense of Likud does not go unnoticed. To put this into context, Michael Zylberman, speaking a few years ago about Gaza in an undated blog called, the guardian.blog, writes that ‘Every rocket fired into Israel from Gaza is like putting a leaflet for Likud into every letterbox in Israel;’ the same thing happens today with every Leftist decision to demolish homes of religious nationalists in Judea-Samaria: each destroyed home is another leaflet for Likud--but because Netanyahu rejects his own Party when he allows this demolition, those ‘leaflets’ are not just for Likud, they are for Feiglin.
Feiglin does not lean Left. His message is clear. Likud members know where he stands. They also know how the world treats Israel—and how Mr Netanyahu has reacted to that treatment. He back-pedals. He chooses ‘Left’. Likud voters are pro-Israel. They reject ‘Left’—and Mr Netanyahu’s embrace of that Left does not sit well with them. Reports have circulated of a near-revolt against Netanyahu because of his Leftist decisions just as a nationalist and ‘Jewish’ Moshe Feiglin challenges him; suddenly, Likud has a leadership candidate who appears true to the Party Platform. In a world that makes Israel a demon, Likud knows that Moshe Feiglin is pro-Israel and strong.
How will Likud vote on January 31? Clearly, the ideological line-in-the-sand has been drawn: Netanyahu and the Left versus Feiglin and Likud. For Likud voters, who stands a better chance of defending Israel in the battles to come—one who leans Left, or one who chooses Likud’s ideals?
We shall soon see how Likud votes.
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