TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli liberals woke up after national elections with a demoralizing feeling: Most of the country, in a deep and possibly irreversible way, does not think like they do.
There had been a sense of urgency among moderate Israelis that widespread frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s six straight years in office would lead voters to pull Israel away from what they perceive as its rightward march toward international isolation, economic inequality and a dead end for peace with the Palestinians.
But as results trickled in Wednesday, they showed Netanyahu’s Likud Party with a shocking lead.
The liberals’ optimism has been replaced with despair — and a belief that the masses might never understand that logic shows the current path is suicidal.
“Drink cyanide, bloody Neanderthals. You won,” award-winning Israeli author and actress Alona Kimhi wrote on her Facebook page, before erasing it as her comments became the talk of the town. “Only death will save you from yourselves.”
Such rage rippled through liberal Israel last week. Social media was full of embittered Israelis accusing Netanyahu’s supporters of racism. Some vowed to stop donating charity to the underprivileged whom they perceived as being automatic supporters of the right.
The prime minister’s main rival denounced such attacks. “Attempts to divide, vilify and spread hate in Israeli society disgust me,” wrote Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog on Facebook.
