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Abstract
In the elections for the 19th and 20th Knesset, the Labor Party fared badly. The party list for these two election campaigns was almost completely devoid of ‘bithonistim’ – members of the Israeli security elite (MISEs). The article examines the placement of MISEs on the Labor Party list from 1977 up until the 2015 elections. It shows how, from the establishment of the state, the Labor Party was the natural home of MISEs, thereby becoming the dominant party with regard to the Israeli agenda, in which military and security issues occupy a central place. The decrease in the number of MISEs on the Labor list, and their replacement with Member of parliament who are associated more closely with civil issues, have marginalized the Labor Party in relation to the public agenda. The article shows how in Israel, a society organized around cultural militarism, the party’s demilitarization has led to political marginalization.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Uzi Ben-Shalom, Batia Ben-Hador, Nissim Leon, Moshe Levy, Netta Steiner-Lebel, and – especially – Dr. Eithan Orkibi, Mr. Vincent Reyes and Ms. Kaeren Fish – for their constructive comments and editorial assistance.
Notes
1. The sole senior officer to enter the Knesset (by virtue of the merger with Hatnuah) was Maj. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven. As the 24th candidate on the Zionist Camp list, he was clearly not going to be part of the country’s leadership, even if his party landed an election windfall. His background was therefore not highlighted in the election campaign, and he remained outside of the public consciousness.
2. Forty percent in the 19th Knesset; 46% in the 20th Knesset.
3. Yachimovich, “Yachimovich Megiva le-Uri Sagui”.
4. Verter, “Ha-Bayit shel Kulanu”.
5. Lis, “Yadlin Lo Yeshev Ba-Reshimat ha-Mahaneh ha-Tzioni”.
6. Lis, “Yadlin Hitztaref le-Mahaneh ha-Tzioni, Mofaz Nishar ba-Hutz”.
7. Karni and Eikhler, “Diskin Tomekh be-Herzog”.
8. Oren, “The ‘Mr. Security’ image”.
10. Ifargan, “Waiting for a denouncement?”; Gontege, “Where did Yossi Yona Disappear”; Tuchfeld, “Mavo le-Politika”.
11. Bar-On, “Merav Michaeli”.
12. Heller, Public Opinion in Israel.
14. ‘Buji’ is Herzog’s nickname.
15. Strassler, “Kum Hitna’era Buji”. Milki is the Israeli most popular Yogurt.
16. Harel, “Zeh ha-Bitahon, Tembel”.
17. Shalev, “Ha-Ruah ha-Ra’ah shel ha-Kayitz”.
18. Shalev, “Ba-Avodah Tafsu Amerika”.
19. Shavit, “Ha-Mesimah shel Herzog”.
20. Arian, “Voter Behavior,” 154.
21. Inbar, “The Decline of the Labor Party.”
22. Kober, “From Heroic to Post-Heroic Warfare.”
23. Kimmerling, “Patterns of Militarism.”
24. Bourdieu, “Symbolic Capital and Social Classes.”
25. Bar-Tal et al., “The Paradox.”
26. Lissak, Iyyunim be-Historia ha-Hevratit, 446.
27. Lebel, Politics of Memory, 2013.
28. Peltz et al., Does Civilians’ Trust.
29. Lebel, “Second Class Loss.”
30. Lebel and Dahan-Kaleb, “Marshaling a Second Career.”
31. Keren, “National Icons and Personal Identities.”
32. Goldberg, “The Growing Militarization,” 390–391.
33. Etzioni-Halevy, “Civil–Military Relations.”
34. Lebel, “Cracks in the Mirror.”
35. Lissak and Horwitz, Metzukot be-Otopia, 249.
36. Peri, “Party–Military Relations.”
37. Kimmerling, “Patterns of Militarism.”
38. Peri, “Party–Military Relations.”
39. Goldberg, “The Growing Militarization,” 387. As Goldberg notes, in 2002, the candidates included two senior reserves officers (Brig.-Gen. [res.] Binyamin Ben-Elizer and Maj.-Gen. [res.] Amram Mitzna, and MP Haim Ramon). The military men together received 93% of the vote; Mitzna won, with 53%.
40. Golderg, “The Growing Militarization,” 389.
41. Ibid., 389.
42. Ibid., 390.
43. Epstein, “The Influence.”
44. Lebovitz, “Regional Framing.”
45. Thus, for example, in the elections for the 20th Knesset, the Likud list included a former Chief of Staff and a former head of the ISA – both within the first decade of their leaving the security establishment. Since the 18th Knesset, the Labor Party has lacked candidates with an elite security background of this calibre. The hierarchy of MISEs in Israeli discourse is deserving of discussion in its own right, and we address it elsewhere (Lebel and Hatuka, in preparation).
46. Horkin et al., “Ha-Dugman ve-ha-Miktzo’an”; Mevorakh et al., “Bein Ratzionaliut le-Teritorialiut.”
47. Kober, “From Heroic to Post-Heroic Warfare,” 96–122.
48. We use the term “de-militarization” rather than “de-securitization” because the former denotes, inter alia, a cultural phenomenon and pertains to ethos (see Smyth, “The Process of Demilitarization”), while the latter refers to the public framing of social problems (see Huysmans, “The European Union”). The process by means of which MISEs attain their status is one of “cultural militarization,” and the “securitization” of many spheres of life is just one of the by-products of this process (Kimmerling, “Patterns of Militarism”).
49. Goldberg, Ha-Miflagot be-Yisrael; Doron, “Yisrael – Demokratia Birokratit?”
50. Kamenista, “The Process.”
51. Shiloah, “Aliyatah ve-Kerisatah”. Shiloah, a Mapai veteran who became a right-wing activist in his later years, describes the ideological upheaval of the Labor Party as a ‘sex change’.
52. Boss et al., “Strategic Self-Marginalization.”
53. Fernandez-Vazkuez, “And Yet It Moves”; Smith, “Positioning Political Parties”; Smith, “The 2001 Election.”
54. Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition. In the Israeli context, this milieu values cosmopolitanism, universalism, post-militarism, post-colonialism and even post-nationalism, exemplifying the civil–military gap (Lebel, “Casualty Panic”).
55. Maariv Online, November 21, 2015.
56. Adelist, “Political Poker.”