Which ‘Israel before all’? From the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the Jewish/democratic Left-Right axis

ABSTRACT

The hyper-election period of 2019–21 marked the climax of Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule and with it the transformation of the Israeli party-system. While most commentators read the political situation as personalisation of the ‘Yes Bibi’/‘No Bibi’ polarisation, this article argues that ideological analysis is necessary to understand the dynamics of the four elections and their structural effects. It argues that the dominant issue on the left/right continuum over the past 50 years – the Palestinian-Israeli conflict – gave way to an internal cleavage between Israel’s nature as a ‘Jewish and democratic state’. Netanyahu’s trial only intensified the National Camp’s thesis of the Deep State, accusing the Left, the civil service and the judicial system of being ‘undemocratic’ and condescending of ‘the people’s will’ while the centre-left bloc defended the ‘Jewish and democratic’ Israel, accusing the Right of offering a ‘Halachic state’. Thus, while the Right emphasised the Jewish people, and Netanyahu’s natural partners were the religious and Haredi parties, the centre-left bloc focused on ‘Israel before all’ (to use the newly formed Blue-and-White party’s slogan). Ideological realignment is thus the key to understanding the changes in Israeli party-system.

KEYWORDS:

• Israel
• Benjamin Netanyahu
• political ideology
• identity politics
• Left-Right
• realignment
• party system change

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Downs, Theory of Democracy, 116.

2. Lipset & Rokkan, “Cleavage Structures”.

3. Mair, “Left-Right”, 2; Benoit & Laver, “Party Policy”.

4. Thomassen, “Introduction”.

5. Sani & Sartori, “Polarization”; van-der Eijk & Binder, “Left-Right”.

6. Shamir & Arian, “Collective identity”.

7. Arian et al., “Dealignment or Realignment?,” 94; Shamir et al. “Kadima”.

8. Shamir et al., “2015 election”.

9. Doron, “Political Map,” 50.

10. Diskin, “Likud”; Navot & Rubin, “2015 elections”.

11. Talshir, Judocracy, forthcoming.

12. Cohen, “Likud”.

13. Werner et al., “Manifestoes”.

14. See note 4 above.

15. Diskin, “Israel”.

16. Shamir & Arian, “Collective identity”; Talshir, “New Israelis”.

17. See note 9 above.

18. Central Headquarter 6 April 2019, channel 13. https://13tv.co.il/item/vod/news/hamate-hamerkazi/episodes/matte060419-150611/.

19. Ibid.

20. Meet the Press, 6 April 2019, channel 12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v = dHi1XhlWPGs&t = 627s.

21. Central Headquarter, 6 April 2019, Channel 13 https://13tv.co.il/item/vod/news/hamate-hamerkazi/episodes/matte060419-150611/ .

22. The results from the leaders’ interviews marathon were registered in the table but not counted, as we are interested in the clear priority order of the parties. The interviews are nevertheless crucial to demonstrate the lack of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the dominance of Jewish and democratic themes. All manifestoes can be found in https://www.idi.org.il/policy/parties-and-elections/elections/2019-2/.

23. Blue-and-White Manifesto, April 2019.

24. Ibid.

25. Labour, Manifesto, April 2019.

26. Meretz, manifesto, April 2019.

27. Yisrael Betenu, Manifesto April 2019.

28. Meet the Press, 20 March 2021, Channel 12 https://www.mako.co.il/news-channel12?subChannelId = e1ed0a891e057710VgnVCM100000700a10acRCRD&vcmid = 06aa57b8e5158710VgnVCM200000650a10acRCRD&Partner = searchResults.

29. Ynet, 1 April 2021, https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/SyvP4L7H00.

30. Meet the Press, 20 March 2021, https://www.mako.co.il/news-channel12?subChannelId = e1ed0a891e057710VgnVCM100000700a10acRCRD&vcmid = 06aa57b8e5158710VgnVCM200000650a10acRCRD&Partner = searchResults.

31. Parties’ manifestos can be found at https://www.idi.org.il/policy/parties-and-elections/elections/2021-1/.

32. Yesh Atid Manifesto 2021. This was aligned with the anti-Netanyahu protests, which it hoped to coopt.

33. Meet the Press Election programme, 14 September 2019; The Central Headquarter, Channel 13.

34. Globes, May 30, 2019.

35. Trump and Netanyahu, “Joint Statement,” 2020.

36. Ibid.

37. Meet the Press, 29.2.2020. Yahadut Hatorah was the only party that did not send a leader.

38. Meet the Press Elections programme, 29 February 2020; Central Headquarters Elections programme, 29 February 2020.

39. The interview with Meet the Press was cut in the middle with Bennet accusing the interviewer of seeking to damage the Right and help the Left. The agenda is taken from the Central Headquarters interview.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gayil Talshir

Gayil Talshir is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel