Why Netanyahu’s conspiracy-minded government is treating every issue like a war

In 2017, an Israeli right-wing activist published a book that became an overnight mainstay of the conservative Israeli bookshelf. It was a fierce and effective polemic with a title as blunt as its argument: “Why do you vote right and get left?”

Since the late 1970s, explained author Erez Tadmor, voters have usually sent right-wing majorities to the Knesset, yet government policy remained, he argued, “leftist.” The reason was simple. At every turn, a narrow leftist elite stymied the will of the people, and especially in three key domains: the media, the legal system and the universities.

The right won’t truly govern or realize its vision for the country, Tadmor warned, until this elite is sidelined.

He offered three proposals for achieving that end, mostly framed in language borrowed from American conservatism: Competition must be imposed in the media, the judiciary and government legal bureaucracy must be restrained through legal reforms, and universities and colleges must be pressured to adopt a more conservative bent in research and teaching. READ MORE