Ahead of Israel’s October 27 elections, Israel’s Young Democrats, the youth wing of the newly formed Democrats party, are seeking foreign allies.
asserted
Democrats → form → allies
They recently announced a joint campaign with the Young Greens of Austria to support “progressive voices on the ground and work with them towards a sustainable peace”.
asserted
They → announce → peace
Meanwhile, another youth group described as “leftist”, Hamahanot Haolim (the Ascending Camps), is exploring plans to build a new kibbutz in the occupied West Bank, near Jericho.
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group → describe → Jericho
When questioned about the impact on the Palestinian population, the group’s director, Ilan Gazit, explained that since Israeli settlements are being built regardless, “the left” should make sure it is Israeli “leftists”, not far-right settlers, who populate them.
asserted
who → question → them
“We aren’t ashamed of this, and we aren’t hiding it,” he said.
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he → hide → it
These two youth movements and their foreign sympathisers appear to treat “leftist Zionism” as a coherent political identity.
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movements → appear → identity
So why is it touted in Israel and beyond as a legitimate ideological belief?
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it → tout → belief
Because it is a political technology designed to shield Zionism from any critique while preserving the structures of oppression.
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it → design → oppression
Zionism emerged as an organised Jewish nationalist movement in Europe in the 19th century.
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Zionism → emerge → century
At its core was the aim of establishing a Jewish national home, an idea shaped by European nationalism, European anti-Semitism, and colonial expansion.
asserted
aim → establish → nationalism
Its early political architects advanced two connected projects: redefining Judaism as a national identity and colonising Palestine.
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architects → advance → Palestine
Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian Jewish journalist who is seen as the founder of Zionism, was motivated not by religious zeal, as he espoused secularism, but by the growing anti-Semitism in Europe.
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he → see → Europe
After Herzl’s death in 1904, leftist ideas entered the movement as various socialist factions rose to dominance within the World Zionist Organization and in early settler communities in Palestine itself.
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factions → enter → Palestine
But these leftist elements were not driven by a genuine commitment to class-based struggle and internationalism.
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elements → drive → struggle
Rather, they used a socialist vocabulary to justify a settler-colonial nation-building project, carried out through kibbutzim, labour unions, and diplomacy.
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they → use → kibbutzim
Whatever position early Zionists staked out on the political spectrum, what the movement ultimately produced — the state of Israel — was in direct contradiction with the anti-colonial, anti-racist politics the left was supposed to stand for.
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left → stake → politics
In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly acknowledged this by adopting Resolution 3379, declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination”.
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Zionism → acknowledge → racism
The resolution was revoked in 1991, after sustained pressure from Israel and its allies and in the wake of the Soviet collapse.
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resolution → revoke → collapse
The debate about “leftist Zionism” continues till today.
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debate → continue → today
The issue is not whether individual Zionists can hold progressive views on particular social or economic questions.
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Zionists → hold → questions
The real question is whether a political project organised around building and sustaining a state premised on Jewish supremacy through ethnic cleansing, dispossession, apartheid, and now genocide can be reconciled with the left’s foundational commitments: equity, anti‑racism, decolonisation, and social justice for everyone.
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project → organise → everyone
Leftist politics in Israel
When considering the historical record, it is important to note that for decades, Israel was governed by parties that would self-describe as “leftist”.
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that → consider → leftist
Mapai was established as a Labour Zionist party in 1930, led by David Ben-Gurion.
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Mapai → establish → Gurion
It became the dominant force within early Zionist politics and the principal architect of the pre‑state and early institutions, including the Haganah, which carried out various terrorist attacks and massacres against the Palestinians.
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which → become → Palestinians
Mapai governed Israel well into the 1960s, giving way to the Labour Party, which dominated Israeli politics until the 1990s.
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which → govern → 1990s
Labour Zionism spoke the language of workers’ solidarity while building institutions that excluded Palestinians by design.
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that → speak → design
The Histadrut, Israel’s dominant trade‑union confederation, was founded in 1920 as an instrument of the Zionist “conquest of labour”: a project designed to build Jewish settlements by systematically displacing Palestinian workers from the economy and reducing dependence on Indigenous labour.
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Histadrut → found → labour
After 1948, this exclusion was institutionalised: Palestinian workers were either barred from membership outright or confined to second‑class status for decades, denied voting rights and meaningful representation even as they paid union fees.
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they → institutionalise → fees
Today, even when on paper Palestinians should have the same rights as Jewish Israeli workers, in practice, they do not.
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they → have → practice
Collective bargaining agreements in key sectors, such as construction, are consistently not applied to them because their employment is rendered unstable, informal, and “temporary” by design.
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employment → apply → design
In this way, the Histadrut functions less as a defender of workers’ rights and more as a key actor in reproducing a settler‑colonial order that segregates, exploits, and disempowers Palestinian labour.
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that → function → labour
The school system set up by early Labour governments functioned as an instrument of ideological formation: forging Jewish national consciousness while erasing Palestinian presence, and recasting settlement as national redemption rather than colonisation.
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system → set → redemption
Many kibbutzim, due to their location, served as staging grounds for Haganah operations in 1948, including the depopulation of nearby Palestinian villages, making the settlement map itself part of the operational infrastructure of the Nakba.
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map → serve → Nakba
Falling into the left-right Zionist trap
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Falling → fall → trap
Despite the long historical record of crimes committed by Mapai and Labour governments against the Palestinians, many leftists in the West continue to fall for the “leftist” label within the context of Israeli politics.
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leftists → commit → politics
They appear to believe that what is happening in Palestine could be solely blamed on Israel’s right-wing political forces led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
uncertain
happening → appear → Netanyahu
Campaigns like that of the Young Greens of Austria and Israel’s Young Democrats seemingly reinforce this misguided belief.
asserted
Campaigns → reinforce → belief
In the end, their ultimate aim is not to amplify “progressive voices” or deliver a “just peace” to the Palestinians, but to impose a political category – “leftist Zionist” – that is, in essence, incoherent and contradictory.
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that → amplify → essence
The constant reference to a “far‑right Netanyahu government” does real political work.
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reference → do → work
It implies that a “Zionist left” could be a credible progressive alternative, one that is capable of changing the colonial reality Palestinians live under and one that is not to blame for Israeli crimes.
uncertain
that → imply → crimes
…and 6 more, not listed.
