Israeli Political Parties

Israel's electoral system is comprised of parties large and small, centrist and fringe.

By David Margolis

Especially in the last decade, right and left on the Israeli political spectrum has been defined almost completely according to the parties' views on the future of the West Bank and Gaza. Important domestic issues--religious-secular tensions, social-welfare and economic issues, electoral reform--have taken a back seat to the "existential" issues defined by relations with the Palestinians, and traditional oppositions such as socialism vs. free-markets have faded in importance.

 

According to Israel's Central Elections Committee, a list or candidate may be disqualified from candidacy if it (1) denies the Jewish or democratic characters of the State of Israel; (2) incites racism; or (3) supports or encourages armed opposition or terrorism against the State of Israel.

The Israeli Political Spectrum

Speaking roughly, the Israeli political spectrum is divided into:

·        a far left bloc consisting mainly of non-Zionist Arab parties.

·        a center left bloc whose main representatives are Meretz and the Labor party. Both have championed the peace process agreed to in the Oslo Accords of the 1990s and territorial compromise with the Palestinians.

·        a center right bloc, including the current governing party, the Likud. Other center-right parties include Shinui, which has concentrated on diminishing the power of religion in Israeli life, and Yisrael b'Aliyah, which was founded as an immigrant rights party in 1995.

·        a far right bloc consisting of the National Religious Party, which while moderate on social issues, has become increasingly dominated by the West Bank settler movement, and two even more right-wing secular parties, the National Union and Herut, which claim a ideological purity that is committed to the idea of a "Greater Israel."

·        The ultra-Orthodox religious parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, while generally lumped into the right wing, are actually more difficult to place on the political spectrum, since they tend to be socially conservative but willing, in return for benefits to their own communities, to enter coalitions with center-left parties espousing territorial compromise.

Profiles of the parties follow.

The Major Parties

Labor ("Avodah,"which includes Meimad)--led in 2003 by a dovish new leader, former general Amram Mitzna--prefers to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and is willing to resume talks without preconditions, which include a cessation of terror. But if fruitful negotiations with the Palestinians cannot be resumed, the party has called for unilateral separation between Palestinians and Jews and for a security fence to be built between them.

 

Domestically, the party has pledged to separate religion and state, make army service mandatory for all (many ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempt now), and permit public transport on the Sabbath according to local needs.

 

The liberal Orthodox party Meimad, which favors territorial compromise with the Palestinians and social compromises between religious and secular communities, has remained a partner of Labor, although some of its senior figures have resigned.

 

Likud, founded by the late Menachem Begin, is led in 2003 by Israel's current prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Although the party platform rules out establishing a Palestinian state, Sharon has said that he supports its creation and is willing to make "painful concessions"--usually understood as territorial compromise--for peace.

 

Likud considers the Oslo Accords null and void. Domestically, the Likud endorses the status quo on religious matters, such as rabbinic control over marriage and divorce, army service exemptions for yeshiva students, and the like.

 

A separate movement within Likud, called Jewish Leadership, is committed to Jewish sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel. Jewish Leadership aims at a political system in which a convention of rabbis would have power to veto acts of the Knesset.

The Centrist Parties

Yisrael b'Aliyah ("Israel on the Rise"), founded by former Soviet Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky, sees the solution to the conflict with the Palestinians in, and only after, the democratization and reform of Palestinian society.

 

To relieve religious-secular tensions in Israel, the party has suggested that communities and even neighborhoods be able to make their own decisions on issues of religion in the public domain, and it proposed Sunday as an additional non-working day. (Currently, the Israeli weekend consists of only Saturday, though many people are off on Friday also.)

 

Known mostly as a party representing Russian immigrants, Yisrael b'Aliyah has recently begun outreach to immigrants from English-speaking countries.

 

Shinui ("Change"), a secular, Zionist party founded in 1974, has made its mark in recent years by vehement opposition to the influence of the ultra-Orthodox parties (with which it has announced it will not serve in any coalition) and the government-supported religious establishment. It aims to separate state and religion, transfer the authority of the rabbinical courts to civil courts, establish equality between the different streams of Judaism, draft yeshiva students for army service, and allow commerce on the Sabbath, as well as to end "religious coercion" and the support of religious institutions with state funds.

 

In foreign affairs, the party favors negotiations with "moderate" Palestinians after terrorism ceases, the evacuation of settlements in areas of dense Arab population, the annexation of the settlement blocs, and the construction of a security fence as a protection against terrorism.

The Left-Wing Parties

Meretz (an acronym for the three parties that founded it in 1992, left-wing socialist Mapam, centrist-socialist Ratz, and centrist Shinui) is a left-wing, secular Zionist party.

 

It supports the establishment of a Palestinian state, the dismantling of most settlements, and a security fence along the Green Line.

Domestically, it advocates a complete separation of religion and politics, annulment of religious councils, commerce and public transportation on the Sabbath, civil marriage and divorce, drafting of yeshiva students, and the equality of all streams of Judaism, including the recognition of Conservative and Reform conversion. On social issues, the party calls for increasing the education and welfare budgets to benefit the weakest sectors of society.

 

"Am Ehad" ("One People") is a social-democratic party. Viewing itself as the "true" Labor Party, it is particularly concerned with the wellbeing of workers and pensioners. Opposed to the "arbitrariness and cruelty of the market economy," it calls for economic and social equality among all citizens of the state and the narrowing of economic gaps in Israel.

 

Yisrael Aheret ("A Different Israel") is a secular party led by a group of people in their 20s who aim at electoral reform, including replacing politicians with academics, business people, and professionals. The party calls for ending subsidies to ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. In foreign affairs, it calls for unilateral separation from the Palestinians to ensure a Jewish majority in Israel.

The Ale Yarok ("Green Leaf") party calls especially for legalizing marijuana and prostitution. It holds center-left political views on most other issues, supports territorial compromise with the Palestinians, the separation of state and synagogue, and the elimination of the Orthodox "monopoly" of religion.

 

The Men's Rights in the Family party advocates strengthening a man's say in child custody battles and decisions over abortions.

HaYarokim ("Green Party") is a leftist party whose primary concerns are environmental.

The Right-Wing Parties

The National Religious Party("Mafleget Dati Leumi") is modern Orthodox and differs from other ultra-Orthodox parties that it is explicitly Zionist. It's constituents serve in the Israeli army and are educated as part of the national-religious school system (as opposed to the ultra-Orthodox Jews who have a separate educational system). In addition, the party operates independently of rabbinic leadership. The West Bank settler movement has become an important constituency. The party opposes a Palestinian state, withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, any Palestinian autonomy in the Land of Israel, the ceding of any territory to a foreign power, and the uprooting of any settlement. The party favors a separation fence to surround Arab population centers. The party supports the religious status quo.

 

The National Union ("Ichud Leumi") is composed of three secular parties: Yisrael Beitenu ("Israel Our Home"), Moledet ("Homeland"), and Tekuma ("Rebirth"). Both the National Union and Herut claim to be the only real right wing party.

The party adamantly opposes a Palestinian state and calls for "transfer by agreement" to resettle Palestinian refugees in Arab countries. It proposes that the Israeli government require every citizen to swear loyalty to the state and its flag, national anthem, and laws.

The partyembraces the Jewish character of the state but wants clear separation between religion and state and a prohibition of "coercion of the few by the many," as well as national service for all those who do not serve in the army.

 

Herut ("Freedom," also called the National Jewish Movement) was founded in 1999 and ran that year as part of the National Union for the 15th Knesset, winning one seat for its chairman, Michael Kleiner. The party absolutely opposes territorial compromise or the establishment of a Palestinian state, believing that no Israeli government has the right to give up any part of the Land of Israel, even for peace. Herut is willing to grant Palestinian Arabs limited autonomy, with security remaining Israeli hands and media and education under Israeli supervision.

 

Tzomet ("Crossroads," also called the Movement for Renewed Zionism) is a militantly secular right-wing splinter party that won eight parliamentary seats in the 1992 elections, dropped to five in 1996, when it was partnered with Likud, then failed to win a seat in the next Knesset. Founded in 1983, Tzomet opposes the Oslo Accords and demands Israeli retention of the entire West Bank.

The Arab Parties

The United Arab List (Ra'am), the largest Arab list in the Knesset, consists of three parties: The Islamic Movement (Southern Branch), Mada (the Arab Democratic Party), and the National Front. Ra'am supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, the evacuation of all settlements, and the division of Jerusalem. Ra'am supports the separation of religion and state and demands increased funding for Arab towns and the Arab sector.

 

Balad (National Democratic Assembly), established in 1996, seeks to transform Israel from a "state of the Jews" to a "democratic state with equality for all of its citizens" and to end all discrimination against Arabs in Israel. Balad demands that the government of Israel recognize the rights of the Arab minority in Israel to cultural and educational autonomy.

 

The party supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, and the return of all Palestinian refugees. In December 2002, both Balad and its leader, Dr. Azmi Bishara, were disqualified by Israel's Central Elections Committee on the grounds that Bishara denied Israel as a Jewish state and had made statements supporting armed struggle against it. This decision was overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court in January 2003 and Bishara was allowed to run for political office.

 

Hadash ("New"), the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, is Israel's Communist party. A mixed Jewish-Arab party, it supports evacuation of the settlements and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Domestically, it calls for an end to ethnic discrimination, recognition of the Arab population in Israel as a national minority, and the separation of religion and state. The party has also called for "decommissioning" Israel's nuclear capabilities.

ODA (Da'am in Arabic) is a secular Marxist party that broke away from Israel's Communist Party in 1995. It posits that the "Palestinian question will only be solved within the context of a global solution to the crises caused by capitalism."

The Ultra-Orthodox Parties

Shas ("Sephardi Torah Guardians"), the third largest party in the 15th Knesset (which was elected in 1999), is an ultra-Orthodox party guided by former Sephardic chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef and specifically representing Sephardim (Jews of Spanish, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent). The party operates many community social-welfare projects and has stressed helping the disadvantaged in society.

 

Although the party supported the Oslo Accords, it believes that no credible peace partner exists and favors strengthening the settlements. It does not, however, oppose negotiations with the Palestinians. It favors the expansion of religious legislation and supports tax and economic initiatives to benefit the poor and middle classes.

United Torah Judaism is an ultra-Orthodox and non-Zionist party whose primary concerns are the interests of the ultra-Orthodox community. It supports the religious status quo and objects to any changes in the Sabbath laws or to legitimizing non-Orthodox streams of Judaism in Israel.

 

Ahavat Yisrael ("Love of Israel"), an ultra-Orthodox party, is led by Yossi Kadourie, the grandson of a renowned kabbalist (Jewish mystic).

 

Moreshet Avot ("Heritage of the Fathers") is a party of the religious far right. Its leader, Rabbi Joseph Ba-Gad, served in the Knesset between 1992 and 1996 and is reported to have sat on the floor of the Knesset crying and then laughing hysterically on the night the Oslo Accords were signed. The party has been distinguished by a continuing pattern of election-list discrepancies.

 

David Margolis was a writer based in Israel. His work can be found at http://www.davidmargolis.com/.