Tel Aviv, August 26 - Israel’s progressive political factions continued today to voice a commitment to restore the happier times when their side held control of the government, when basics such as rice were so unobtainable that the government had to sponsor development of a wheat-based imitation.

“Life was better under left-wing leadership,” insisted figures from The Democrats, a merger of the last remaining left-wing parties that claim to support Zionism - and who could muster only a handful of seats in the 120-mmber Knesset during the last elections in 2022. Those politicians waxed nostalgic for the post-founding period of austerity of the 1950’s and early 1960’s, when the ancestor of the erstwhile Labor Party held sway, strict government control of the economy prevailed, and families waited years to get connected to a phone line.

“People today don’t understand the simple joys of standing in line for hours just to receive a meager allocation of powdered eggs and margarine,” explained one senior Democrat operative, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to undermine the party’s carefully cultivated image of progressive sophistication. “Back then, under true socialist management, nobody suffered from the emptiness of consumer choice. You got what the state decided you needed, and you were grateful. There was no obesity epidemic because there wasn’t enough food to go around. That builds character.”

Party spokespeople recalled with misty eyes the era when new immigrants lived in canvas tents and corrugated tin shacks known as ma’abarot, waiting indefinitely for permanent housing that the central planners promised would arrive any decade now. “Those were days of genuine equality,” declared a former Labor MK now folded into The Democrats. “Rich and poor alike had nothing. No one flaunted luxury cars because the waiting list for a private vehicle stretched longer than most people’s life expectancy. Children grew up healthy from the lack of excess calories and the abundance of outdoor labor. We must bring that spirit back.”

Historians note that the same period featured black-market trading in ration coupons, widespread malnutrition in the early years, and an economy so tightly managed that entrepreneurship was treated as borderline subversive. Yet the progressive voices dismiss such observations as right-wing revisionism. “Sure, there were shortages,” conceded another Democrat figure. “But those shortages united us. Today, with supermarkets overflowing and high-tech salaries allowing ordinary citizens to vacation abroad, the social fabric is torn. We need to reintroduce scarcity so Israelis can rediscover solidarity.”

“Ideally, we would also bring back the uniting factor of rampant Arab military attacks from every direction,” added a former Meretz Party stalwart. “We can do that by withdrawing unilaterally from the Occupied Territories and and letting Hamas take over, which will precipitate another October 7th again and again, uniting us as in the past. Also remember October 7th was Bibi’s fault and you must vote for us, the real alternative.”

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