The hatred for Benjamin Netanyahu goes deeper. It stems from the days when he was considered the anti-Christ to Yitzhak Rabin and an indirect inciter to his murder. It continued in the days when it seemed that peace was within reach and only Netanyahu was preventing it. But after it transpired that even in Netanyahu's absence there was no peace, the hatred toward him did not diminish. It simply transformed itself. The Israeli mainstream elite still cannot forgive Netanyahu for being the most eloquent, powerful speaker of the sane right wing. In the absence of peace and the absence of real faith in peace, hating Netanyahu remains the left-wing tribe's emotional campfire.

But the hatred toward Ehud Barak is no less intense. It stems from Barak's failure to...