The roots of the current Israeli Left can
be traced to three main sources symbolized by three personalities. The
first, Joseph Stalin, whose worship by the MAPAM and Communist parties was
of enormous importance during the first two decades of the Jewish state.
The second is Uri Avneri, an embodiment
anti-Jewish ideologies, who traded fascism for PLOism.
The third is the Hebrew author, Yizhar
Smilansky (S. Yizhar), who represents a fundamental anti-Jewish
Sabra-nativism. His writings betray a deep-seated negation of anything
Jewish among native Hebrew-speaking Israelis. His magnum opus,
The Days of Tzkiklag, can be identified as the ultimate encyclopedia
of the Sabra psyche. For many years Yizhar, a Laborist Knesset member was
identified with a Ben-Gurionist policy. But as the Left lost ground
following the rise of the Likud in 1977, he took to expressing his
anti-Jewish emotions in op-ed articles. In his writings he uses classic
anti-Semitic expressions.
