The Crisis of the Zionist Left

How did the Israeli Zionist left parties, and most notably the Labor Party, which established the state and ruled it unchallenged until 1977, reach the brink of extinction? And how can one account for the fact that the nearly complete departure of the Zionist-left parties from the political stage took place, of all times, at a time, when the status quo regarding some of the most fundamental tenets defining Israeli public life, including the rule of law, Israel's character as a Jewish and democratic state, and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was being called into question? This essay sheds light on some of the key developments in Israeli society since the signing of the Oslo Accords and illustrates the background for the decline of the Zionist Left in Israeli politics in the first two decades of the 21st century.