Both the Left and the Right seem to have lost their way in the current election campaign, as they are focused not on the peace process or other burning political questions, but rather on the judiciary, which seems to have taken center stage in the elections over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legal troubles.
The Left understands Netanyahu better than the Right, which is also one of the main reasons why it attacks Netanyahu mercilessly – Netanyahu is a nightmare that is coming true before their very eyes.
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This is also where the parties to the right of the Likud falter. They are too busy peeking through the keyhole to see the bigger picture.
These parties have their own political ideology, their own priorities and agenda, and they expect them all to be met, making them blind to the bigger picture – the one the Left sees very clearly, which illustrates that Netanyahu has all but lulled the peace process into an irreparable coma. Anyone who wants to understand why the Left loathes Netanyahu as more than any other right-wing leader should look to that fact.
The confusion is understandable. Netanyahu is a moderate right-wing leader, who is not gung-ho to go to war. In fact, his insistence on containing the security escalation on the Israel-Gaza border has prompted many politicians in the Left to slam what they called his "weak policies" there.
This seemingly served the Left's agenda: it wants to revive the peace process and therefore urged Netanyahu to topple Hamas' regime and reinstate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' rule in the enclave from which he was ousted in 2007. A wide-scale military campaign in Gaza could achieve this goal.
Netanyahu understands that well, which is why he is leaving Hamas exactly where it is – severely crippled but still viable. As long as Hamas rules Gaza, chances of anyone reigniting the peace process are slim.
Absent any extraneous remarks, fireworks or pathos-filled speeches, Netanyahu has completely defeated the Left's principal agenda. He proved that Israel could thrive without making "painful concessions." Furthermore, his policies have not led to Israel's diplomatic isolation but rather forged new ties with Sunni Arab states. And the economy is flourishing. All the while the Left hopes for the dystopia it knows is "sure to come" in the absence of painful diplomatic concessions.
Netanyahu has led the country forward, an achievement even more impressive given that he has succeeded in doing all of the above under the watchful eye of a hostile US administration under former President Barack Obama.
A renewed diplomatic process will lead to additional wars and the spilling of blood. Netanyahu saw this up front and that is why he invested all of his effort in thwarting such a process. They understand this full well on the Left. It's a shame that to the right of Netanyahu, they choose to peek through the peephole and as a result, are unable to see the full picture, which those on the Left are able to see: Netanyahu buried the diplomatic concession process.
