Israel. Left turn ahead?

By Natan Doron / @natandoron

The Labour Party has just left the government, got rid of an unpopular leader who was seen as increasingly out of touch and damaging to the party; the government is now a coalition led by a loathsome right-wing party in coalition with a centrist partner; Labour, with a resurgence in the polls is now running leadership elections with a hope to unveil the leader who will oversee it’s revival in September. Sound familiar? Welcome to Israel 2011.

But who are these candidates? And do any of them represent the opportunity for hope and renewal amongst Israel’s left?

One of the front runners in the race for the leadership is Isaac Herzog, most recently a Welfare Minister in the coalition government which outgoing Labour leader Ehud Barak recently resigned from, sparking this leadership race. Herzog has a wealth of cabinet experience but is still seen as young enough to provide a fresh start. Jeff Barak, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post believes that Herzog is the right candidate for the job. His ties to old mistakes, such as this cringe-worthy footage of him defending the bombing of a UN office in Gaza may however, count against him.

Two other prominent candidates are Amir Peretz and Amram Mitzna. The problem with both of these candidates is that they’ve had the job before. Peretz drew criticism as party leader for abandoning the leftist social agenda he campaigned on as well as previously splitting from the party to form a rival one. Mitzna enjoys slightly more credibility as he is a former (and popular) mayor of Haifa, the capital of Israel’s left – a political badge of honour. Both clearly enjoy much public affection, and recent polling suggests that Labour would do best under Mitzna’s leadership; but in terms of reaching out to new voters and re-energising the party it appears that neither Peretz or Mitzna can offer that.

Shelly Yachimovich is in many ways the candidate that represents something refreshingly new. A staunch feminist with a clear social justice agenda, she has criticised the other candidates for focusing too much on issues of security:

“before we go to war to defend the state and before we make peace for its citizens, we must make sure that we will have a state.”

Sources inside the Israeli Labour party inform me that there is a worry that Yachimovich would alienate mainstream voters with her more overtly left-wing posturing. Herzog himself cautions that Yachimovich would risk Labour becoming a ‘niche party’. But with only eight parliamentary seats out of 120, there is a question of just how much more niche Labour could feasibly become.

Another candidate running is Braverman, a former left-wing academic who polled so badly around the time of his announcement that he is no longer a truly credible candidate but a notable one nonetheless. There are two other lower-profile candidates in what is by now a very crowded race. One of the important things about this leadership battle is that it is the first stirrings in over a decade of the possibility of a renewed alliance of politicians from the left, in opposition to the the current rightist coalition led by Netanyahu. A coalition increasingly unpopular at home and abroad. It is very important now for Israel to show the world, and itself that there is a credible alternative to the current regime.

There is a view that Israel is a nation built on Labour values by the Labour movement. This view arises from the progressive commitments to racial, political and gender equality in the declaration of independence. This view is also based on the dominance of parliament the Labour party (initially in its first incarnation as ‘Mapai’) enjoyed from the creation of the state until 1977; For those who draw hope from this view, the last two decades have been bleak to say the least with Israel losing the support of the left all over the globe.

International perception of Israel is likened to that of a US satellite state, undemocratic and unrelenting in its treatment of the occupied territories. Clearly the continued dominance of the hawkish right will do nothing to counter this. But a recent gathering of left-leaning voices in Israel suggests that now is a time to perhaps hope again that not only can Israel renew the political project of building a social-democratic society based on principles of equality and social justice, but that a rejuvenated left-leaning government would be far better placed to breath life into the peace process too.

Those of us in the UK are used to reading about the renewal of the Labour party; lets hope for success both here and in Israel in 2011.