Reply #96: The Israeli left is vestigial at best.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

In the last election, anti-occupation parties won 14 seats; Labour won 13 and Kadima (which I include in a list of parties that could theoretically be considered left-wing merely out of completeness) 28. The far right won 65, and has since added another 5 from labour. And at the next election it's likely to be even worse.

Moreover, the attitude of those outside the left to the left have increasingly hardened; the majority of Israelis who are not for ending the occupation are increasingly passionately against it, and view those who are as traitors (which I think they should be, but sadly most of them aren't).

Peace through consent is a dead end; Israel will never willingly consent to end the occupation. The only hope, unfortunately, is peace through bullying. That, unfortunately, is not much more likely due to the US's backing for Israel, but with help from the current Israeli government, which appears to be doing its best to alienate as much of the world as possible, there's a slim chance Europe, Russia and China might manage it.


>since you can't even find the tiniest thing good to say/defend about israel

Again, this is a direct lie; in the very post you're replying to I say that Israel is reasonably good on gay rights. But using such things to defend Israel from necessary boycotts is harmful; we should acknowledge that they're the case but make clear that they are not relevant to the need to pressure it.