http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/will-israels-left-destroy-israel/print/
The anniversaries of the Yom Kippur War and the Rabin assassination have come and gone. Both historical events are national traumas laden with ambiguous meanings.
The Yom Kippur War destroyed the political fortunes of Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan and moved Rabin into the big chair. Rabin couldn’t hold on to power as Labor corruption ended the unbroken rule of the left commencing what was effectively fifteen years of rule by the right.
Rabin’s return to power was an equally brief window for the left. Since Peres’ loss to Netanyahu, there has only been one Labor prime minister and he barely lasted two years in office.
From one angle, Israel has emerged out of the shadows of the left. Under conservative governments, it has modernized and innovated. The Israel of the startup probably would not exist if the kibbutz was still a viable proposition. From another angle, Israel is a conservative country in the grip of an unelected left.
The peace process, a desperate attempt by the Labor Party to become relevant again, is headed into its third decade. The casualties of the endless Peace War and the expansion of the enemy’s capabilities to the point that Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have been shelled are all terrible, but they are not the real threat.
The terrorist war against Israel is a war of nerves. It is meant to drain Israel’s energies, to tie it down and make its people and soldiers feel futile and desperate in the face of a threat that can’t be pinned down. These are the same exact tactics being used against the United States. Terrorists are proxy armies. They are not the ultimate threat. They are a strategic means of disabling an enemy before the real attack.