New York and Berlin move left, young people in Israel move right | Moshe Cohen-Eliya

The author argues that while the Western left in cities like New York and Berlin is becoming more populist and radical, young Jews in Israel are leaning right. He links this trend to the experience of military service and war, and analyzes the struggle over unelected institutions, primarily the High Court of Justice, as a means for the left to preserve political power amid its electoral weakening.

In an opinion column, Moshe Cohen-Eliya argues that the Western left is changing: in cities like New York and Berlin, a new left is emerging, economically populist and radical on identity issues, and critical of Israel. As an example, he cites Congressman Zohran Mamdani, who defines himself as anti-Zionist. Simultaneously, he presents data showing that young Jews in Israel are leaning right: 73% of 18-24 year olds defined themselves as right-wing in the 2022 Democracy Index, and a post-war study found further movement to the right. The author explains this through the experience of military and reserve service compared to the academic experience in Europe. From there, he moves to the struggle over unelected institutions, primarily the High Court of Justice, which he presents as a mechanism for the left to control the right-wing masses. He claims that most High Court justices were supporters of the opposition, calling this a "severe democratic deficit." According to him, the "Democrats" party defends the juristocracy of the High Court not out of a principled belief in judges but because the current judges lean left. The struggle, according to the author, is over value-based and political identity in an era of hegemonic change, where the old hegemony is demographically shrinking and trying to preserve power through unelected institutions.