"A Trojan horse", "stabbing in the back those who saved her", and many other slurs that are too harsh to commit to paper are just some of the offensive responses that Orly Levy-Abekasis received for her great crime of (finally) standing up for her principles. Like many politicians, she too demonstrated flexible values during the roller coaster of the last year. But it looks like there is a moment when red lines are crossed – just as it happened with Blue and White's Yoaz Hendel, Hilik Tropper and Zvi Hauser this week.
It is possible that Levy-Abekasis made a mistake by agreeing to run on the same ticket as Labor and Meretz. It was hard not to miss her look of distaste every time Amir Peretz and Nitzan Horowitz spoke of "resurrecting the peace process". She was barely part of the campaign – and that was no accident. The union with Peretz was born out of the focus on social justice issues and putting aside diplomatic issues, and it was only down to the apocalyptic threats of annihilation from Meretz and Blue and White that led to the alliance with the Democratic Union's refugees – a sort of technical bloc of the kind that most of the other lists ran in this last election.
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What exactly are the left-wingers who attack Levy-Abekasis surprised about now? After all, they, and the masses of left-wing voters, absconded to Blue and White and even the Joint List because Levy-Abekasis, the "right-winger", bothered them. And now they are amazed that the "right-winger" has a backbone? That she does not agree to cross the red line that the Zionist left has been careful not to cross for decades?
The self-satisfied liberal left was quick to point to Levy-Abekasis' Mizrahi ethnic background. "She has undone years of struggle against Mizrahi prejudice," or "she has done damage to the efforts against Mizrahi racism," Iris Leal and Tomer Persico wrote under the patronage that is reserved for those who believe that the struggle against racism is a favor that they can extend to someone, and not a value in and of itself. It then morphed into claims that Miri Regev "justifies the racism against Mizrahim". Levy-Abekasis is acceptable as a right-wing Mizrahi pet, but she may not voice her opinions on matters of principle so as not to "give an excuse" to their racists. "Keep quiet and look pretty (follow orders)," they command her.
But there is nothing novel here in the way she is being treated. Traditional Mizrahim from the periphery areas of the type that Levy-Abekasis embodies were always merely guests passing through. Even Amir Peretz, flesh and blood Labor, has been abandoned twice by its voter base. First by Shimon Peres, who bolted to Kadima, and this time by the poster-boy of the old elites, Benny Gantz. They simply cannot bring themselves to vote en masse for someone who looks and sounds like him. They agreed to swallow the Levy-Abekasis pill as a magnet for center social justice voters, but the moment she stands up for her principles, she is cast as an ingrate and that they were doing her a favor.
Members of the Joint List should also expect such patronizing treatment as soon as they stand up for their principles – and that day is approaching fast. Those same left-wingers, on whose own lists even a symbolic place for an Arab could not be found, will go back to blaming the Arabs as soon as their coalition collapses.
Levy-Abekasis decided to find the courage and stop the speeding train. On Monday evening, we read the brave declaration of Queen Vashti in the Purim story, who refuses to be paraded naked in front of the king's eunuchs. Levy-Abekasis salvaged her pride by refusing to serve as a fig leaf for a government that relies on the support of Joint Arab List member Balad, which denies the existence of the Jewish nation. The next step, especially when taken in context with the revolting responses she received, must be to serve as a moderating factor in the next government, and as the health minister that the Israeli public desperately needs. She in any case never found a home on the left, nor will she ever.
