The Left is on its deathbed and now there may be no other option than to end its suffering. It failed to realize how it ceased being relevant to the Israeli public and keeps attributing its woes and colossal failures to incitement from the Right or the false perception of those who have soured on its message.
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It speaks of lofty values but denies the fact that its own policies and self-flagellation only weaken it. It gets mixed up between brilliant, heart-warming clichés and a political strategy tested for its effectiveness.
The Left no longer puts up a fight or provokes outrage. The Left has become pathetic.
The left-wing Zionist movement had two institutions. Both were wrong, but the difference between them is vast.
Many members of the left-wing Hashomer Hatzair youth movement had misguided aspirations, like supporting Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and promoting the two-state solution. But it did significantly contribute to the establishment of our state.
In a conversation I once had with Hashomer Hatzair leader Yaakov Hazan after he was disillusioned by Stalin and the Palestinian leadership, he did not get angry when I described the movement with the verse, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
Alongside the constructive Left, however, there developed a purist group of intellectuals, called Brit Shalom, led by Chancellor of the Hebrew University Judah Magnes, who conditioned the realization of the Zionist dream on the consent of the Arabs.
One of Brit Shalom's founders, Arthur Ruppin, left the group in the 1930s
History proved Ruppin's contributions to the state priceless, while Magnes became fixated on his idea and even tried to thwart the establishment of a Jewish state in Washington in 1948.
Meretz has not stooped so low, but it is getting there with its support for organizations, like Breaking the Silence and the International Court of Justice, and its aspirations to mobilize US President Joe Biden and the European Union going against the national consensus in Israel.
Having failed among the confines of its small group of believers, it seeks to use external pressure on the Israeli public to impose a reality that most Jews see as endangering their future.
Meretz does not say out loud that Israel is an apartheid state that commits war crimes. It only supports and treats with forgiveness those who do. Having once been a political party eager to maintain the state's values, Meretz has deteriorated completely.
It continued to support the Palestinians even after the Second Intifada and made choices that were politically and militarily irresponsible.
In an effort to make up for its mistakes, the party continues to join forces with institutions that seek to delegitimize Israel. Its supporters are advocates of non-existent solutions addicted to their image of being righteous. That might be enough for a political sect, but certainly not for a party that wants to pave the way for Israel.
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