Anyone reading the Israeli press as of late keeps seeing a common theme repeating itself – “Why don’t we have great leaders anymore on the stature of Ben-Gurion?”

If you drive down to the Sde-Boker Museum you’ll see a biographical production that unequivocally attributes to BG nothing less than Messiahhood.

I’m not going to denigrate whatever BG was or wasn’t, but it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he was essentially a strong autocrat with a particular vision (part of which is exploited today by the Left, and part of which is completely ignored where inconvenient).

The Left wants to go back to the good old days of a single, uncontested leader with an iron fist, who will deploy their policies.

And while they found their false prophet in the form of Shimon Peres he is hardly a leader by force of personality, direct threats, and encapsulated authority.

And while awaiting the resurrection of their previous martyred false messiah, they ignore the autocrats of this generation that answered their prayers.

Didn’t Sharon turn into nothing less than the strongest leftwing autocrat in the history of modern Israel, espousing (and nearly bringing about) the complete vision of the left?

Absolutely. Yet that isn’t enough.

You see, because the call isn’t just a return to the totalitarians of the past (as we have them in the present), but rather a call for a return to the totalitarianism of the past where those who disagreed had no chance of gaining power.

Where those on the wrong side could be incontestably shot down in cold blood on burning boats by those in power. Where protests, free speech, and even jobs were reserved for those on the right (left) side of the fence.

Oslo was the beginning, the Expulsion was a good start, but then suddenly Amona proved that the good ol’ days just aren’t here.

And that is what bothers the left. They cry out not just for strong uncontested left-wing leaders, but for a society that openly discriminates and suppresses those they disagree with - as Ami Ayalon proved last week - at any price.