It’s not often that one can catch Caroline Glick making a mistake, much less a mistake as big as the one she made in her article this week entitled “Israel’s balance of delusion” (as well as others I mention at the end of the article).

In this article she castigates the right wing parties (specifically the National Union/Ichud Leumi/ Moledet incarnations).

She starts off by saying that these right-wing parties have been nearly 100% correct in their analysis of the strategic issues Israel faces and what their end results will be.

She then faults the right-wing parties for standing adamant in their principles and accurate analysis by not capitulating to external pressures – unlike what the Likud repeatedly does.

Glick doesn’t deny the magnitude of the errors of the Likud, but what comes next is where her analysis falls short.

She pinpoints the blame on the right-wing parties for bringing down the government who has gone ahead and implemented Left-wing policies, which then resulted in farther left-wing governments becoming empowered once the Likud was toppled.

Chronologically that is correct, but it is still inaccurate.

I imagine that one could argue that there is a difference between a party running to implement a Left-wing policy, and one that is merely walking there, but in the long-term they both end up in the same place – as we see with the Likud which eventually (and more than once) implemented the Expulsion.

No, Glick is wrong because we have never had a government that has actually implemented a Right-wing policy (such as Benny Elon’s “Right Road to Peace” to name just one example). The best they have done is try to maintain some sort of status quo (like a finger in the dam) instead of going Left - and that is not a solution.

Perhaps if the Likud had stood up for its principles, had tried to be creative in terms of right-wing solutions, then the electorate would be able to differentiate between them and a Left-wing party. But if a party is going to call itself Right (or Center-Right) and then implement Left, why go for the cheap imitation?

Unfortunately, Glick wants the National Union to be a rubber stamp for the Likud. They shouldn’t make demands for their electorate. They shouldn’t stand up for what is right. They shouldn’t call a spade a spade. And they should vote for something that even Glick admits is evil.

So yes, Netanyahu is frightened of the National Union – because Bibi knows he won’t even try to implement any right-wing solution, just some variation of the Left’s.

But the National Union is hardly wrong or delusional for the Likud’s political incompetence, that the Likud not only can’t implement the policies that its electorate wants, but instead implements those of its political opponents.

The problem is not that the Right won’t compromise, the problem is that the Likud never seems to realize that is has compromised not only too much, but on everything - and that includes offering alternative right-wing solutions.


Another mistake is that Glick makes is that she unbundled the National Union from the other "Right-wing party" - on the assumption that people won't vote Right because the Right doesn't know how to govern.

But most voters voted for Lieberman because he tricked them into thinking he actually was a right-winger who wants to implement right-wing policies.

This mistake is understandable, because only a few of us looked beyond the slogans and actually understood what Lieberman was saying before the elections

That is why so many people are (suprisingly) shocked that Lieberman has now called for a Palestinian state and uprooting even his own town.

Glick is wrong because the people did vote for the right (of the Likud). The people wanted a strong right that would implement a right-wing solution. Not a wishy-washy Bibi/Likud that would once again go Left. The people want a right-wing solution and not the status quo.

And that isn't a delusion. It's a policy decision.

And finally, even Glick should honestly admit that the pre-split Bayit Yehudi list was not particularly exciting, realistic or representative for any right-wing voter.

Whereas the (last-minute) National Union list proved they are completely capable of compromise as shown by the 4 merged parties who are working together.

Sorry Caroline, but you blew it on this one.


You can also read more from Shiloh Musings on the subject.