Lefties & Peaceniks: A Detrimental Symbiosis?

Over the past few decades, the political left in Israel gladly adopted its label as the “Peace Camp”, which served to distinguish it from the nationalist right-wing. The public discourse in the country was quick to follow suit and the common perception that Israeli left-wing politics equates a dovish policy agenda that is above all committed to the pursuit of peace with Israel’s neighboring countries and the Palestinians has been internalized. This image has been further strengthened by the smear campaigns on the right in recent years, which have delegitimized the Israeli left by riding the equation of the political left with the peace movement. While the equation of Israel’s political left with the peace movement provided both the Israeli left and the right with a formative story, the truth about the relationship between the Israeli peace camp and the Zionist left is more complex.