Justin Kliger is Meretz’s dream voter. He’s 26, very liberal, loves Israel and yearns for peace with our neighbors.

He works for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, so he’s passionate about the environment. He’s a Reform Jew and has nothing but love for the other streams of Judaism.

A new immigrant from Australia, Kliger speaks good Hebrew, has many Israeli friends and wants to get more involved in fixing this country. He’s politically and socially fired up, motivated and ready to do his part to make Israel a light unto the nations.

He believes in voting (Australia has mandatory voting) and will vote for Meretz even if it doesn’t pass the electoral threshold in the next national election.

But at Tuesday’s internal Meretz poll at the United Kibbutz Movement’s headquarters in Tel-Aviv, young people like Kliger were a rare species.

The vast majority of those who came to vote for Ran Cohen, Haim Oron or Zehava Gal-On to take over Meretz’s leadership were middle-aged and older. Continue reading →