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Has Israel’s political left given up?

Contrary to their enthusiasm ahead of the Sept. 17 election, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and his colleagues in the leadership of the left-wing camp seem to have disappeared lately from the political arena.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak arives before  delivering a statement in Tel Aviv, Israel June 26, 2019. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC13F7AADBC0
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The last time Chairman of Labor-Gesher Amir Peretz was active on social media was Oct. 9. It was right after Yom Kippur, and he went online to express his horror at the despicable hate crime that took place at the synagogue in Halle, Germany. His partner in the party’s leadership, Knesset member Orly Levy-Abekasis, last popped up online on the eve of Rosh Hashana when she posted a generic greeting in honor of the Jewish New Year.

The two of them have had almost no real presence in traditional media either since the Sept. 17 election. There is practically no mention of their Labor-Gesher party in the political discourse, except when it comes to Peretz’s stubborn refusal to join a government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While the fact that he is keeping a campaign promise is worthy of respect, is that the sum of the main left-wing party’s role? After the devastating blow that Labor-Gesher suffered in the September election when it won six seats and barely spared total obliteration, Peretz and Levy-Abekasis should have responded immediately by launching a campaign to rehabilitate their party. They should have turned the current situation into the engine that restores relevance and momentum to the Israeli left. Instead, Peretz continues to be little more than a hanger-on and addendum to the Blue and White party, and a marginal figure in the moribund social democratic and peace camps, now facing extinction.

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