Podcast: Matti Friedman on the Last Gasp of the Israeli Left

This Week’s Guest: Matti Friedman

Have you ever seen the old murals that decorate the walls of Israel’s historic kibbutzim? They often feature young, brawny Jewish women and men working and plowing the land. They depict the pioneering spirit of early Zionism, glorifying sweat and soil. The murals portray what Hebrew labor could achieve through cooperation and collective action. They are a reminder that the Jewish state was founded in large part by Labor Zionists, and that the Israeli left once dominated the country’s politics.

But now those murals are relics of an earlier age. Things have changed a great deal over the past 72 years, and Israel is now a nation with a conservative consensus. The Labor Party of David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir—the political organization that erected the governing structures of the country—has been reduced to a mere three seats in the 23rd Knesset. What’s more, a poll conducted earlier this month shows that if elections were to be held again at this moment, the party would not win a single seat.