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Ideology is not meant to be simply brandished about, used the way one fans the flames of a barbecue. Ideology needs to be realized, and for that a strategy is required. Yet today it seems that the Israeli left does not allocate much time or thought to the implementation of its ideas. Perhaps the explanation lies in its having been in the opposition so long, perhaps in arrogance and thinking that being right is sufficient, and perhaps because it is more convenient to speak in slogans and less convenient to make an attempt to realize them.
Stop the occupation! Two states for two peoples! These slogans are wonderful but, sadly, remain slogans. One can assume that many of the readers of this article identify with those messages, but parties and movements are supposed to promote their agenda and not just shout it. As Otto von Bismarck said: Politics is the art of the possible. After many years of the left's failure to achieve its goals, it should take some time to reexamine the way in which it can advance toward them.
Opportunities to Raise Awareness
We can start by raising awareness. The right failed in its recent initiative, while Trump was still in power, to apply Israeli sovereignty in the territories; this was an excellent, but lost, opportunity to remind everyone that the State of Israel has no sovereignty beyond the Green Line. Another opportunity was in the storm that arose regarding the extension of the 'Judea and Samaria law' when Naftali Bennett was prime minister. It is good that the government survived for a little longer, by renewing for another five years the situation in place already more than half a century, but it, too, was a lost opportunity to take advantage of the situation to remind everyone that hundreds of thousands of settlers do not live in the State of Israel.
Other chances for pressing this point abound: Around the world, for example, legislatures require their members to be residents of their country. This is not the case in Israel today, but it is possible to put forth a proposal that would change this. It is also possible to propose, in a simple but symbolic step, that the borders of the country be...