On the Left's coat-tails

Just for fun, try to imagine Ehud Barak or Tzippy Livni attaining the presidential green light to put together a coalition government when they have a solid base of 65 supporting MKs. If that were the case, would either of them beg Netanyahu to join them in a unity government?

Yitzchak Rabin won his premiership with just a tiny majority. His government eventually lost its majority in the Knesset, but was bolstered by the Arab parties that remained outside his coalition. Despite the fact that he headed a minority government, Rabin had no qualms about forcing Oslo - a process that tore the nation in two - down Israel's throat.

After his government was already toppled, Ehud Barak conducted advanced-stage negotiations to surrender Jerusalem - with the full support of Israel's High Court.

So why is the Right always hanging on to the Left's coat-tails - even when it wins a clear mandate in elections?

This phenomenon is not rooted in the personal shortcomings of one candidate or another. The root of the problem is ideological. Israel's Right has no realistic alternative to the Left's agenda. A right wing that lacks its Jewish, faith-based foundation is not capable of supplying Israel with a values infrastructure that can justify Israel's right to exist. For that reason, the right is always sucked into implementing the "pragmatic" solutions proposed by the Left.

But there's more. On top of the layer of lack of faith-based leadership, another problem exists: In Israel, true control is not in the hands of our elected officials, but rather in the hands of elites who work only for themselves. Netanyahu clearly understands that they will not let him govern and feels compelled to include them in his government. He does not have the ideological foundation that would allow him to create a cogent alternative to the elites. That is why he is incapable of leading Israel to any sort of significant change.