re: #631 windsagio

I have a friend in Israel (admittedly a leftist) that has an interesting but different interpretation of the causes of that.

Admittedly I don’t have the strong interest in the subject that you do, so take this as second hand at best.

His basic argument is that the cause of the drive to the right is more about the fact that the left and center coalitions, which are larger than the major right coalition and are more ‘pro peace’, tend to fight with each other fiercely, and get in trouble with each other. This leads to a general discontent in the electorate ‘cuz of the ineffectiveness, which leads to the right gaining more power again.

The other thing, and lets be frank here, having missiles thrown at you tends to be radicalizing.

As an ex Israeli Lefty (I consider myself centrist now) I can say that the reason some of my friends and myself have shifted has been the disillusionment with the Palestinians ever really wanting peace. While buses were exploding I was sure that if we just gave them their land back they’d want to live in peace with us. But after the Gaza and Lebanon withdrawels ended up bringing more violence, I decided the heck with them. we should do whatever it takes to defend ourselves and our citizens, and when our enemies are ready to live in peace they can come looking for us.

All coalitions are fragile, be they right wing led or left wing led. I don’t think that really has anything to do with it.