Why Have So Many Israelis and Jews Moved To the Right?

There can be little doubt that over the last quarter of a century Israeli voters have moved to the center from the left, and now to the right. The same is true, though to a somewhat lesser degree, of Israeli supporters in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and other countries with significant Jewish populations. The primary reason is obvious: The left has turned against Israel and against its supporters.

Jews have traditionally been on the left side of politics both in Israel and in the diaspora. When Israel was first established, it had widespread support among the left, even among the extreme left. At its founding, Israel was a socialist democracy surrounded by reactionary Arab dictatorships.

Not surprisingly, the Soviet Union supported its establishment in 1948, and Czechoslovakia even supplied it with arms to defend itself against invading Arab nations. This all changed in the 1960s when the Soviet Union decided to abandon left-wing Israel and support the right-wing Arab states that were seeking Israel’s destruction.

The reason for this switch was purely power politics: The undemocratic Arab states were rich in natural resources, especially oil and gas; they also had geographical advantages such as the Suez Canal. Israel on the other hand was an agrarian socialist state with few natural or geographic resources; they exported Jaffa oranges and mud from the Dead Sea.

When the Soviet Union turned against Israel and in favor of Arab Tyrannies, the European and American hard-left fell in line. Euro-communist parties followed the lead of the Soviet Union, as did the American Communist party. Most moderate leftists continued to support Israel, especially during the Six Day War in 1967.

Israeli voters generally continued to support left-wing candidates until 1977, when Menachem Begin won a surprising victory. Since that time the trend among Israeli voters has been slightly right, though left-of-center candidates such as Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak won elections in 1992 and 1999.

Then, two developments began to move Israeli voters discernibly to the right. The first was the immigration of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews into Israel. These Jews had experienced discrimination and persecution from Communist regimes throughout the Soviet Union. Not surprisingly, they did not trust the left. These new immigrants asserted themselves politically and formed alliances primarily with center-right and right-wing parties.

Israel is a vibrant and dynamic democracy, where outcomes depend on the experiences, history, and ideology of the voters. So the influx of anti-Communist Soviet Jews had an immediate impact on Israeli politics, moving it to the right.

The second reason for the rightward movement by Israeli voters is the Arab rejectionism of Israeli peace offers. The most striking was the 2000-2001 peace initiative by a liberal prime minister, Mr. Barak, and President Clinton. Here is the way Clinton characterized the offer:

“[The] peace deal that we had worked out…would have given the Palestinians a state in 96% of the West Bank and 4% of Israel, and they got to choose where the 4% of Israel was. So they would have the effect of the same land of all the West Bank. They would have a capital in east Jerusalem…

“All this was offered including… a capital in east Jerusalem and two of the four quadrants of the old city of Jerusalem confirmed by the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack and his cabinet, and they said no, and I think part of it is that Hamas did not care about a homeland for the Palestinians. They wanted to kill Israelis and make Israel uninhabitable.”

This rejection of a two-state solution was accompanied by an intifada in which thousands of Israeli and Palestinian civilians were killed. This led to the weakening of the Israeli left and the strengthening of the right. Many centrist Israeli voters grew frustrated with the failed efforts of the “peace camp” to achieve a two-state solution through negotiation and compromise. Israelis began to believe that terrorism could be prevented and/or deterred only through military actions.

Then came Hamas. In 2005, Israel’s conservative prime minister, Ariel Sharon, unilaterally ended Israel’s occupation of Gaza and turned Israeli equipment over to Palestinian leaders in an effort to create a viable Palestinian enclave — Singapore on the Mediterranean. Hamas then proceeded to murder Palestinian authority leaders and take over the Gaza Strip in an unlawful coup.

Hamas then proceeded to fire rockets into Israel for years.

This belligerency culminated in the October 7 massacres and kidnappings. The victims were primarily Israeli leftists and peaceniks who are active in efforts to bring about a two-state solution. Not surprisingly, October 7 weakened the left and strengthened the right.

The reaction of the left to October 7, and the positive support given by many to the Hamas barbarism, moved many Jews out of their traditional left-wing base and toward a more conservative perspective.

The above analysis is not intended either to justify or criticize this obvious right-ward movement among many Israelis and their supporters around the world. It is intended to explain a phenomenon that many seem not to understand. It should be expected that when the left turns against a nation and its supporters and the right turns toward them, there will be a change in attitudes and voting patterns.

Many people somehow believe, however, that Israelis and Jews should be different: They should continue to support the left even though the left has abandoned them. To expect Israelis and Jews to act against their interest, though, is to impose an unacceptable double standard.