Parties In Israel Research Articles

“A normal nation in our land”: Reproductive righteousness, redemptive politics and LGBTQIA+ opposition in contemporary Israel

This article examines the political rhetoric and policy pursuits of a right-wing nationalist party in Israel (‘Noam’), showcasing how opposition to gender and sexual diversity is centered within an exclusionary vision of Jewish purity. Discursive analysis of political materials show how Noam frame gender and sexual diversity as potent proof of moral decline and as contaminating forces, which can only be saved by righteous (heterosexual) saviors. From billboards and election manifestos to policy, Noam's vision of a ‘Jewish state’ is underpinned by an idea of ‘normality’ that is ethno-nationalist, heteronormative and patriarchal. Their attempts to construct threats to the ‘normal’ Jewish nuclear family help to gain broader public support and forge alliances with hegemonic political parties. Situating this particular Jewish-Israeli exclusionary logic of reproductive righteousness is part of a broader feminist study of emerging alliances within right-wing movements in an increasingly globalized identity politics of opposition to gender and sexual diversity.

The Israeli parties' positions in comparative perspective

The multidimensionality of the Israeli political system is expected given Israel’s electoral system and cleavage structure. We introduce a new dataset and measurement of party positions in Israel and provide evidence that Israel’s party system is comparable to other multiparty systems in Europe (CHES-EU) and Latin America (CHES-LA). We argue and provide evidence that the most important dimension in the Israeli party system, similar to other multiparty systems, is the general Left-Right continuum, which combines both economic and cultural policy issues. Yet, unlike other established democracies, parties’ positions on the Left-Right continuum are closely related to their positions on policies related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. We also discuss Israeli-specific issues which structure the Israeli party competition. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. First, it allows scholars of party competition to include Israel as a comparative case in their research. Second, it is the first study that provides valid and reliable measurement of Israeli parties’ positions across multiple issues.

The Demise of the Left Parties in Israel: From Party Identification to a Negative Partisanship

The left parties are the oldest political institutions in Israel. They were founded before the establishment of the State and were the dominant political force in its first decades. However, since the 1990s, there has been a consistent decline in their power, to the point where, in the last Knesset elections held in 2022, the left parties barely passed the threshold. This article explains the decline of the left parties and attempts to answer where the voters went. A combination of several local and global events that occurred in recent years caused the left parties to distance themselves from the narrative of Zionist Socialism characterizing them and to adopt a new narrative, which less inspires identification of Jewish voters. The article’s main argument is that the voters did not disappear but only changed their political behavior from a state of party identification and voting for the left parties to a state of political opposition and voting against the rightist parties. To illustrate the pattern of behavior, voting data for the Knesset in two communities with different demographic characteristics are presented: Kibbutz Mizra, a socialist commune identified with left voters, and Beit-Shean, a town that is a stronghold of rightist voters. The conclusion is that the way for the left parties to return to dominance is through reintegrating the Jewish identity with the values of justice and equality.

Societal Security: A New Conceptual Framework to Analyse Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Politics in Israel

Haredi (ultra-orthodox) political parties in Israel, namely Yahadut HaTora and Shas, have been constantly affecting the domestic political agenda. Despite already flourished literature that covers the various roles these parties play; security dimension is yet to be addressed so far. This paper aims to analyse the Haredi politics in Israel in the identity-security nexus by questioning the political reflections of the Haredi parties’ persistent attachments to the security language in four core topics which are the Haredi educational autonomy, the exemption of religious school (yeshiva) students from the army service, the conversion to Judaism process (giyur), and the nationwide Shabbat regulations. By analysing the coalition documents that Haredi parties took part in, campaign posters of the 2013 and the 2015 elections, individual and institutional Haredi responses to certain crises regarding these topics, this paper claims that Haredi politics is organized by the articulation of identity-security concerns at varied levels.

From Rule of Law to the Law of the Ruler: The Twofold Upheaval of the Israeli Right

ABSTRACT: In January 2023, Israel's newly formed coalition under the leadership of the Likud party began to promote a reform that would alter the nature of the regime and undermine the democratic tenets of the separation of powers, judicial review, and the independence of the judicial branch. The article determines that the planned government overhaul diverges sharply from the historic path of "The Likud," and directly contradicts the worldview and policies held by the party's founding father and leader for over three decades, Menachem Begin. In this respect, what is referred to by the current government as a "judicial reform" is in fact a twofold project that aims to reform the regime as well as the foundational policies of law upheld by the ruling political party in Israel for the past four decades. The article sheds light on the substantive ideology attributed to the "right" and the "left" in Israel's political historiography and determines that the essential principles of the proposed reform are not intrinsic to right-wing ideology and should not be identified as such. The sharp departure revealed by the right-wing reform policy and its ideas on questions of democracy and governance at this watershed moment provide a theoretical-historical basis for the analysis of their motivations and processes.

Substance use, harm reduction attitudes and behaviors among attendees of nature rave parties in Israel

BackgroundFew studies have analyzed harm reduction behaviors and attitudes among rave party attendees. Since the late 1980s, there has been a large Israeli rave scene, also known as 'Nature Parties'. However, only a few studies have been conducted among nature party attendees and almost all of them are from a qualitative perspective. This study's aim was to fill the gap and conduct quantitative research to investigate the patterns of substance use, harm reduction attitudes and behaviors among Israeli nature rave party attendees.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey recruited 1,206 people who reported having attended nature rave parties. All of the participants were aged 18–60 years (M = 29.9; SD = 7.4), and 770 (64%) were male.ResultsThe most common illicit substances used at Israeli nature rave parties in the past year were cannabis (62.2%), followed by LSD (41.4%), MDMA (31.7%), mushrooms/psilocybin (23.9%), ketamine (19.6%) and cocaine (17.2%). A significant but weak association was found between harm reduction behaviors and attitudes toward harm reduction interventions (r = .26, p < .001) and attitudes toward drug testing kits (r = .33, p < .001). It seems that although we found higher positive harm reduction attitudes, it is harder to implement harm reduction behaviors. Logistic regressions demonstrated stronger associations with high harm reduction behaviors and higher levels of positive attitudes toward drug testing kits (OR = 4.53; CI 2.97–6.90; p < .001), higher levels of positive attitudes toward harm reduction interventions (OR = 4.06; CI 2.62–6.29; p < .001), marital status of widower/divorced (OR = 2.22; CI 1.49–3.32; p < .001), using MDMA (OR = 1.63; CI 1.19–2.23; p < = .01) and using LSD (OR = 1.41; CI 1.03–1.94; p < = .05).ConclusionsFormal harm reduction policies and interventions are needed for Israeli nature rave parties in addition to prevention and information programs, which are also very rare. Future studies should examine the subjects of harm reduction attitudes and behaviors among the public, policy makers and professionals.

Islamists in a Zionist coalition: the political and religious origins

ABSTRACT On June 13, 2021, the United Arab List, representing the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel (SIM), became the first independent Arab party to join a Zionist governmental coalition. The article analyzes why the move hardly stirred opposition within the leadership and the popular base of a movement rooted in the Muslim Brothers. It demonstrates that the SIM’s coalition-oriented agenda responded to the firm and consistent demand for greater political impact voiced by a majority of the Arab public in Israel, and was commensurate with the religio-legal arguments introduced by the movement over two and a half decades of defending its decision to run for the Knesset. These arguments include stressing the importance of pragmatism in Islam and drawing analogies to religious narratives about cooperation with and service in infidel governments, such as the conduct of Muslims in Abyssinia and the conduct of Prophet Joseph in Egypt. Ironically, rather than limit its options, the Islamic premise upon which the United Arab List has operated turned out to allow it flexibility other Arab parties in Israel could not afford.

Representation Distortions in Multiwinner Elections

The manifestation of voters’ preferences with respect to representation considerations in the results of multiple-winners primary elections is studied, using both a real example and a simulation of a simple model. For the real example, results from primaries in Meretz party in Israel are analyzed with respect to three representation considerations (“new faces”, ethnic origin and gender). For the simulation, a model of distribution of support between candidates in two representation groups is used, combining uniform distribution with bias, or partly based on empirical results from real elections. It is shown that large deviations between voters’ preferences and the election results may exist, and in fact predicted as the most common result in typical scenarios.

Are Citizens More Politically Engaged when Candidate Selection is Democratic? Analysis of Seven Parliamentary Election Cycles in Israel (1996–2015)

Previous research finds limited evidence for a positive link between intra-party democracy and citizens’ inclination to vote for democratizing parties or to become more involved in partisan activities. This article investigates the association between democratic candidate selection processes and citizens’ political engagement levels, which can be considered a crucial predisposition for actual political participation. First, we test the selection processes’ effect on the two forms of political participation that are likely to be affected by democratizing intra-party reforms: electoral and partisan participation. Second, we examine how inclusive candidate selection processes are linked to three forms of engagement: watching campaign ads, reading newspapers, and discussing politics with friends and family. The analysis is based on public opinion survey data during seven election cycles from the Israel National Election Survey and candidate selection data on Israeli parties. The results of the hierarchical models show that democratic candidate selection processes are associated with higher engagement levels, while simultaneously bearing no effect on electoral and partisan participation. This implies the existence of a structural disconnection between citizens’ political engagement and participation levels in response to intra-party democracy.

The Decline of the Labor Party in Israel

ABSTRACT The decline of the Labor Party is one of the great mysteries of Israeli politics. From achieving forty-seven seats in the 1981 election, it attained a mere seven seats in the March 2021 election. From being the leading party in the electoral firmament, it is now subservient to the whims of the center and right-wing parties. While outside factors such as globalization and deregulation led to the demise of the command economy and the embrace of capitalism, the blurring of ideology has left Labor in search of an identity. Yet the decline of the Left in general can be traced back to the very beginning of the state—to an infatuation by Mapam with all things Soviet and David Ben-Gurion’s obsession about the Lavon affair. While the Left squabbled internally and fragmented, the Right built bridges and coalesced to eventually become the permanent party of power.

Preface

Preface Arieh Saposnik and Natan Aridan, Co-Editors Over the past quarter-century, Israel Studies has established itself as a journal that reflects and stimulates innovative and multi-disciplinary research on Israel. This issue, we believe, continues that tradition of innovative approaches to the study of Israel and dynamic, incisive discussions regarding complex and controversial issues in Israeli society, culture, and history. It features a special section, part of our ongoing “Israel Dialectics” series, which brings together a range of viewpoints on a central topic that concerns the diverse community of scholars who work in Israel Studies. We are grateful to Professor Ilan Peleg for guest-editing the section, which addresses questions related to religion, politics, culture, and society in Israel. While the issue of religion and state in Israel tends to focus specifically on Jewish religious practices in the public sphere and their attendant political and legal dilemmas, the contributors to the special section expand the scope of the discussion to include dilemmas and tensions faced by Palestinian citizens of the state and their encounter with Israel’s religion-state quandary; implications of the religion-state-society intersection for Israel-Diaspora relations; questions of conversion; and the impact of religious tropes on contemporary cultural discourse in Israel. Although reminders of the centrality of religion-state questions in Israel are multiple, and new ones appear virtually daily, the two articles in this issue that accompany the “Israel Dialectics” serve in this capacity as well. The focus of each is entirely different from that of the Dialectics section, of course (and from one another): Daniel Mahla’s innovative article examines Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest as a window into shifting cultural and diplomatic relations between Israel and Europe, and Orit Oved provides a compelling look at education and the construction of Israeli identity during the early decades of the state. Yet, in addition to the novel contributions that each of these represent to their particular subject matters, they also testify to the role of religious considerations and religious parties in Israel’s cultural, social and political discourse—as in the opposition of some Orthodox figures to the transgender singer Dana International’s representation of Israel in the Eurovision contest, or in the challenges faced by a “secular” educational system in seeking to inculcate Jewish identity in its pupils. It is precisely the fact that these are not the [End Page 1] central themes of these pieces that highlights the penetration of these issues into so many facets of Israeli life. This issue, then, offers a range of perspectives on questions of religion, state, and society in Israel, even beyond the Dialectics section devoted to that question. It is not, however, limited to that. The contributions by Mahla and Oved offer important new insights into a range of other questions, including Israel-Europe relations, connections between diplomacy and cultural activity, the development of Israel’s educational system, and the evolution of Jewish identity in Israel. Copyright © 2022 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism

THE SECOND INTIFADA AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

The leader of the Likud Party in Israel, Ariel Sharon, had made a contentious visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on September 28, 2000. Such an unprecedented move immediately gave rise to the outbreak of the second intifada, in which the President of Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, unleashed Palestinian militias as a defensive response to Sharon's inconsiderate behave. The second intifada not only triggered a great hostility and intensive debate among Jerusalem, but also revealed a series of reasons contributing to increasingly descend in mutual suspicion, discontent, and conflicts. The researcher used secondary resources, such as articles, media, and books, to examine explanations of the failure to unite Israel and Palestine, which were divided into the failure of the past attempts, and negotiations giving endless space for governors to enact self-centred policies continued illegal military occupation over Palestinian territory, and conventional as well as obstinate demanding and belief in Jerusalem. However, this political and ethical struggle also helped to appeal to combined emotion of indignation and worry from younger generations to their domestic respondents, as well as inferred the danger and urgency to have a third-party helping to detail an effective and explicit resolution to reverse the status quo.

Palestinians inside Israel

Abstract The Palestinian student movement inside the Israeli academy was established within hostile universities. Palestinian students were not engaged in any institutional production of knowledge and therefore could not develop an alternative, anti-colonial framework within the Israeli academy. These conditions made the national student movement into a mirror of the traditional political parties in Israel, marked by the uncritical adoption of the traditional parties' positions. The student movement was administered by party power at all levels and was denied any organizational or intellectual autonomy. The parties remained dominant over student politics, and we have not seen any radical breaks with them. This strong tie has weakened the potential for a revolutionary, anti-Zionist approach within the Palestinian student movement and has resulted in its gradual collapse.

Vote with your rabbi: The electoral effects of religious institutions in Israel

How do religious parties mobilize local support and what impact does different political strategies have on neighborhoods? Previous literature focuses on the social welfare benefits distributed by religious parties. In this paper, I analyze how religious political parties in Israel generate grassroots support among voters by allying with Jewish religious institutions. Using original data, I examine the association between the timing of entry of religious institutions into neighborhoods and local voting patterns for Israeli national elections. I find that religious institutions are associated with a 4-percentage point increase in the local vote share for religious parties, where this effect is larger for religious institutions with connections to political parties. My results suggest that the primary mechanism driving these results are that these institutions influence the vote choice of existing residents by distributing tangible goods. In contrast, changes to the composition of the neighborhood through in-migration has a more limited effect on voting patterns. These findings highlight the impact of religious institutions on the social and political fabric of local communities.

The collective memory of dominant parties in parliamentary discourse

When the past is contested by political actors, it can play a notable role both in present and in future politics. This is especially true when it comes to the memory of dominant parties, which are part and parcel of political and national history. Focusing on dominant parties in parliamentary democracies, this article examines the memory dynamics of a dominant party after its demise and highlights the importance of memory modes in understanding these dynamics. Using theories of collective memory, it identifies four possible modes of memory in a post-dominance era, suggesting discursive and power-related indications for each mode. The article then utilizes this framework to examine the memory of Mapai, the once-dominant party in Israel. On the basis of this analysis, the authors propose hypotheses concerning the comparative cases of Sweden, Italy, and Japan.

Краткий обзор позиций основных партий, баллотирующихся в Кнессет XXI созыва. Ориентиры для правого избирателя (The Short Review of Parties’ Platforms Towards Elections of Xxith Knesset. Guide for Conservative Voter)

Russian Abstract: В работе приводится обзор позиций израильских партий перед выборами в 21-й Кнессет намеченными на 9 апреля 2019 года. Обзор производится по двенадцати позициям – судебная реформа, реформа государственного устройства, конфликт с арабами, земельная собственность и т.д. Показано что в нынешних условиях (социального государства при всеобщем избирательном праве) только программы левых партий отличаются идеологической цельностью и стабильностью. Реальная власть выборных органов сильно ограничена судебной системой и государственной бюрократией автономной от избираемых политиков. Обзор произведен с позиций сторонников свободной рыночной экономики и еврейского государства на всей территории определенной еврейской традицией. English Abstract: In the paper, we provide a short review of the main Israeli parties' positions on the issues. The set of key issues is our choice and contains Judicial (legal system) reform, Judea and Samaria status, 2nd amendment right and self-defense, Taxation/spending etc. We provide a formal classification of Left and Right parties to test the following hypotheses. Rightist parties' position is less stable and less consistent. The positions' analysis provides some evidence of higher consistency of Leftists' parties position in the Israel and poor ability of Right parties to keep promises. The real power of elected, accountable bodies in Israel is significantly less and the power of self-reproducing court system, public media and governmental bureaucracy higher than in majority old democracies.

The Short Review of Parties’ Platforms Towards Elections of XXI-Th Knesset. Reference Guide for Conservative Voter

In the paper, we provide a short review of the main Israeli parties' positions on the towards elections scheduled on April, 9 2019. The set of key issues is our choice and contains Judicial (legal system) reform, Judea and Samaria status, 2nd amendment right and self-defense, Taxation/spending etc. (12 issues). We provide a formal classification of Left and Right parties to test the following hypotheses. Rightist parties' position is less stable and less consistent. The positions' analysis provides some evidence of higher consistency of Leftists' parties position in the Israel and poor ability of Right parties to keep promises. The real power of elected, accountable bodies in Israel is significantly less and the power of self-reproducing court system, public media and governmental bureaucracy higher than in majority old democracies. The positions review is made from point of view of supporters of economic liberty and Jewish (Israel's) sovereignty over all Land of Israel.

From Goa to Rabin Square: notes for a research on the uses and meanings of psychedelic trance music and parties in Israel

Psytrance or Psychedelic trance music was born at the end of the 1980s within the “full moon parties” organised by a temporary community of international travellers who settled on the beaches of the state of Goa, in southern India. From there it spread all around the world, creating a network of thousands of people, who’ve regularly gathered in events ranging from small clandestine parties in remote locations to big international festivals. Parties are focused on music and dance, yet characterised by a sort of syncretic spirituality, a pacifistic rhetoric and an environmental attitude, and often include the use of psychoactive substances. In Israel – where this phenomenon has reached an exceptional degree of participation and diffusion – psytrance first arrived via the numerous young people who went backpacking for some months after the compulsory military service, often directed to India. Few scholars dealt with the topic so far, and most of them connected the remarkable spread of psychedelic parties with the particular condition of prolonged conflict and militarisation which characterises the growth of the majority of Israel-born youth. This article – based on a recently started research project – aims to offer an overview of the theme, intersecting the little existing literature with the empiric material collected so far, presenting some possible interpretations and addressing a series of questions to be further investigated.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Long Premiership and the Rise of the New Political Center: Is there a Qualitative Change in the Israeli Party System?

Israel’s party system has been characterized by the bipolar rivalry between the left-wing and right-wing blocks since the late 1970s. In recent years we could have seen at least two trends that seem to diverge from this model. For the last 9 years, the Likud party has formed three successive governments which have made Benjamin Netanyahu the longest continuously serving prime minister in the history of Israel. Another new occurrence is the preservation of a significant representation of the centre parties for four Knesset terms in the row. The aim of the paper is to verify whether Israel’s party system has departed from the two-blocs bipolar model. Based on the empirical data (election results, government formation, party’s political platforms) it examines whether the parties’ rivalry in the years 2009–2018 differed qualitatively from the previous period. To answer this question the paper investigates three hypotheses. First – Likud has become a dominant party in Israel. Second – a dominant and stable Israeli right-wing parties’ bloc has formed. Third – an enduring and relevant centre sector has emerged in Israel’s party system.

أحزاب اليسار واليمين والوسط الإسرائيلية والتسوية السياسية مع الفلسطينيين = Left, Right and Center Israeli Parties and the Political Settlement with Palestinians

المفاوضات | المفاوضات الفلسطينية - الإسرائيلية | الأحزاب السياسية الإسرائيلية | مؤتمر مدريد للسلام | حزب العمل الإسرائيلي | حزب الليكود الإسرائيلي | حزب كاديما الإسرائيلي | Negotiations | The Palestinian - Israeli Negotiations | Israeli Political Parties | Madrid Peace Conference 1991 | Israeli Labor Party | Israeli Likud Party | Israeli Kadema Party