Pathetic Political Saga

Of the Likud, that is. At least that's what I see in this pathetic story about the World Likud's recent elections.

The Likud is like a paper mache mask. Paper Mache is an "art form," which is done by wetting strips of newspaper with liquid paste, then covering a shape or object, layer by layer. Once it's complete, it may be difficult to discern, or guess, the original object under all the layers.

Today's Likud is nothing like its original political party. In the early days of the State of Israel, the various Zionist organizations and military undergrounds, which had fought against the British Mandate, each developed into political parties; the Revisionists and the Irgun (aka Etzel) formed Herut, "Freedom Party." It was led by Menachem Begin, who continued to lead it and all of the subsequent political blocs it formed until his retirement as Israeli Prime Minister in 1983.

The Likud was known for its strong ideology and its integrity, until Begin became Prime Minister and surprised the world by giving the Sinai to Egypt and ordering the destruction of Yamit and all of the Jewish communities which had been established there after Israel's miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Days War, when the survival of the entire State of Israel had been in danger. Some of the Jewish communities established as permanent-guaranteed replacements were in Gush Katif and subsequently destroyed by the Likud's Sharon as a major element in the dangerous Disengagement Plan.

Begin's 180 degree turn from ארץ ישראל השלימה, the Integrity of the Entire Land of Israel to the destruction of Jewish communities was the beginning of the end. Without strong ideology, opportunists became attracted to "the party in power," and today's Likud bears no resemblance to its proud and pure beginning.

Arik Sharon joined the Likud in 1977 with his two member Shlomtzion Party and became Prime Minister in 2001. Then at the height of the Disengagement tension, he and Ehud Olmert split from the Likud and formed Kadima, which attracted like-minded politicians from other political parties.

Nothing much is left in the Likud. Its fans were hoping that being in the opposition would make it "lean and mean," but instead it just seems like a shrinking balloon, dying a sad, wretched death. Is this really the end? One thing for sure, it won't survive without a strong ideology.