Comparing the rhetoric of the Israeli left with that of British advocates for remaining in the European Union, Liel Leibovitz notes a common thread of disdain for constituents, which he connects to a shared lack of political success:
[H]ave a chat with anyone who still votes Meretz, though you may have to hurry as there are fewer and fewer of them with each electoral cycle. Catch one on a good day. . . and you will probably hear the following account of all that plagues the state of the Jews: Israelis, goes the leftist narrative, used to be reasonable and genial people. They used to believe in peace, which is why they signed the Oslo Accords and welcomed back Yasir Arafat and strove toward a permanent two-state solution. . . . Then, like a devil out of [the work of the Russian novelist Mikhail] Bulgakov, Netanyahu, a Middle East Mephistopheles, appeared on the scene and, with his dark tricks, poisoned hearts and minds, turning Israelis from a gaggle of glowing Labor-voters into a rabble of benighted boobs, always reaching for their pitchforks and always thirsty for blood. If only reason would prevail, cries the Israeli left, peace would soon return. And if it does not, disaster is almost certain.
Omitted from this story, of course, are a few inconvenient facts, including . . . unrequited Israeli concessions and . . . escalating Palestinian incitement and violence. But bring none of this up with the left, please: only fools and racists still talk about things like terrorism or religion or national pride. . . .
If you’ve listened to the [British] Remainers during these last few weeks, you’ve heard this . . . noxious form of condescension in play. . . . To make their case, the Remainers marched out a phalanx of experts, all of whom sternly warned that departure would be disastrous for this reason or that. They also dialed up the anti-Brexiter rhetoric, accusing EU opponents of being chauvinistic xenophobes and promoting the narrative that only the elderly, the unemployed, or those without formal education supported separation from the EU.
Read more on Tablet: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/206425/brexit-and-the-israeli-left