The announcement of the formation of a new party, Makom Lekulanu (A Place for Us All), by leading members of the Standing Together movement set off a lively debate in the left-wing camp. Most of the reaction was negative, and most of it for baseless reasons.

It would appear that the Israeli left has yet to recover from the trauma of the previous election, when Merav Michaeli’s refusal to form an alliance between Labor and Meretz crippled the former and left the latter below the electoral threshold. The left is still struggling to recover its footing after that devastating blow and the near knockout it suffered following the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. As a result, in the tension between ideology and pragmatism that lies at the foundation of political life, the left is showing a clear preference for playing a numbers game rather than promoting unpopular but just positions.  That has left the field open for a new party that is ready not only to support the inclusion of Arab parties in the coalition but actually promote equality for all citizens of the state and that doesn’t only talk of the two-state solution as a vision for a distant future but actually speaks of the urgency of ending the occupation.

It is in the interest of Hadash and the Democrats to dismiss Makom Lekulanu as a spoiler whose run, they claim, will simply take votes from them and throw them in the garbage. Why would they want to admit that there is gaping hole between them which Makom Lekulanu promises to fill? Many........

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