Israel’s Zionist left down but not out

Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claims, the ultra-nationalist/ultra-Orthodox bloc did not come out on top in the third round of elections. It still lacks the majority needed to compose a coalition. At the same time, the Zionist left did not disappear. For the time being, the right cannot establish a government on its own, a government that some argue would undermine the rule of law in Israel, turn the government and the Knesset into a refuge for criminals and make a mockery of international law with the underhanded backup of the US president in his last months of tenure. Instead, perhaps the best Netanyahu can do is to cobble together a national unity government, which would be preferable to a fourth election campaign. The main advantage and also handicap of a unity government would be that either side could halt any initiative by the other.

True, the trilateral union of the Labor Party, Meretz and Gesher won only seven Knesset seats, but it does not mean the Zionist left is on its way out or that Israel is not interested in peace with its neighbors. In every democracy there is right and left, conservatives and liberals, even if the details change.