Looking back to the days of the British Mandate until today, we find major shifts in how the Right or Left were defined based on the events and conflicts they are facing at the time.
Until the 1960s the main division between these two sides was the economy and national policy. Then, after the Six Day War and the capture of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, the central debate turned to defining the new borders of Israel. Lately, the Left and Right are redefining themselves more or less on the run as developing social, economic and security changes are contemplated by different “tribes” on Israel’s political map.
Who’s marching in which direction?
Secular Liberals: Right → Left
Since the British Mandate, the Liberal movement in Israel represented the middle and upper classes who supported individual freedoms within the nation-state. They were considered Right because they opposed government control of the economy.
Some of these movements joined forces in 1965 and eventually became part of the Likud (now Netanyahu’s party). However, over the years others of...
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