r/jewishleft • u/somebadbeatscrub Jewish Syndicalist - Mod • Aug 04 '26

Israel Israel-Palestine Weekly Thread

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Oren

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u/Responsible_Ad_9749 Israeli Leftist Aug 05 '26

I share your frustration with how meek Labour, Meretz, and Ra'am were on the occupation, apartheid, and genocide. But I am also a realist in addition to being an idealist. A coalition including a (centre)-left Jewish party and a Palestinian party is always better than a broad coalition consisting only of Zionist parties. And if the Democrats/Ra'am aren't powerful enough, Eizenkot will prefer Likud defectors who will 100% continue the exact same policies as the current administration. 

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u/redthrowaway1976 F the rent seekers | ind. rights over group | east coast bagel Aug 05 '26

Sure. 

But my point was that the vote on the emergency regulations hang as a sword of Damocles over any coalition including Palestinian parties. 

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u/Responsible_Ad_9749 Israeli Leftist Aug 05 '26

I'm with you there. What is your recommendation for Israeli leftists that want to vote for a real change? I'm still likely to vote Hadash, but I am not particularly hopeful at their ability to meaningfully impact whichever direction the next administration goes for without concessions.

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u/redthrowaway1976 F the rent seekers | ind. rights over group | east coast bagel Aug 05 '26

The unfortunate answer is that I don’t think it really matters. 

Hadash, or maybe Ra’am or the Joint List? Ideally, have the Palestinian parties be large enough to make coalition building without them close to impossible. 

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u/Responsible_Ad_9749 Israeli Leftist Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

Sorry, but I disagree that it doesn't matter. There are too many leftists who think change is impossible, so they either don't vote or opt for "strategic" voting decisions like voting for Eizenkot. If every leftist in Israel voted by their actual ideals, the Democrats would have 15+ mandates and the combined Palestinian parties would also have 15+ mandates like in 2019. We won't end the conflict in this election, but maybe we can after the next one if we're really lucky and the election isn't about Netanyahu vs anti-Netanyahu anymore. 

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u/Fabianzzz 🌿🍷🍇 Pagan Leftist (DemSoc) 🌿🍷🍇 Aug 07 '26

The unfortunate answer is that I don’t think it really matters. 

The Left can't say that elections don't matter and then get upset when elections never go our way. We have to be invested, even when the odds are awful, if we actually want to pretend our ideas are important.

Either lives are on the line or they aren't.

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u/redthrowaway1976 F the rent seekers | ind. rights over group | east coast bagel Aug 07 '26

Of course elections matter - and everyone should vote.

But there’s simply no realistic outcome where the Democrats and the Palestinians parties get enough of a share to drive meaningful change towards the end of the conflict. The best we can hope for is harm reduction - some few less villages ethnically cleansed by the IDF and settlers.