Why I Voted For Meretz, A Left-Wing Israeli Party

Its been a busy and exciting day. I had to do quite a few interviews and had the privilege of voting. 

I say privilege because while I was voting, my heart was in Israel but my mind and thoughts were with thousands of young Iranians who in 2009 were tortured, maimed or killed for wanting the right to vote freely in their own country. For their vote to be counted and for their voice to be heard in their land or in other words, for their undisputed right which was brutally taken away from them. They were with me with each step that I took from my house to the polling booth. You can leave Iran, but Iran never leaves you, especially during such moments.

Now to why I voted for Meretz.

Because I want a party to represent me that has had a solid record for supporting the peace process. I want a party that wants equal rights for all citizens of Israel, be they Jews, Arabs, or Homosexuals. I was a minority once and now I am the majority. I want the minorities in my country to be treated the same way that I wanted to be treated when I was a minority in other lands. I voted Meretz because I want the religious organizations to have less influence over our lives and the government.

As importantly, I voted left because I refuse to be scared. In fact, I voted left because I have tremendous confidence in the state of Israel, in her people, in her potential, in her young and old. I believe that I live in the strongest country in the Middle East. In fact on a one to one basis, we are militarily stronger than quite a few European countries too.

I voted left because I refuse to live in fear.

I voted left because I refuse to spend each day worrying about annihilation by the Iranian regime, by the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt and Syria, by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

I voted left because I believe that Israel has a legitimate right to exist, that we have the right to defend ourselves and can defend ourselves, but that we should do it smarter. And by that I mean fight the militants when they attack you, but don’t punish an entire nation, because that helps the extremists who want to hurt us.

I voted left because I am always willing to fight whoever attacks me, but I am more willing to make friends with the people of the Middle East.

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