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Abstract
The Israeli general elections of March 2015 saw the advent of a new middle-class party. Kulanu, headed by Moshe Kahlon, achieved 10 seats for its representatives in the Knesset (Israeli parliament). This article proposes that Kulanu be viewed not only as a middle-class party, but also as a new addition to the list of Mizrahi ethnic parties. Kulanu’s appearance on the political centre-stage in Israel rested, at least among the Jewish population, upon its ability to offer a political wavelength and series of political symbols of upwardly mobile ethnicity in Israel – first and foremost among them the elusive ethnicity of the Mizrahi middle class. Kulanu’s political ethnicity assured widespread legitimacy for its agenda as well as empathy on the part of the source of its power – the Mizrahi middle class.
Notes
2. For full data reflecting results by city and by polling booth, see www.votes20.gov.il/cityresults.
3. Cohen and Leon, “The New Mizrahi Middle Class.”
4. Rozin, The Rise of the Individual in 1950s Israel, 100–103.
5. Chetrit, “Mizrahi Politics in Israel.”
6. Motzafi-Haller, Be-Kufsaot Ha-Betton.
7. Kachtan, “The Construction of Ethnic Identity.”
8. See note 5 above.
9. Ben Raphael, Zehuyot Yehudiyot, 70–72.
10. Herzog, “Political Factionalism.”
11. Lamont, The Dignity of Working Men.
12. Ben-Porat, “Class Structure in Israel.”
13. Zicherman and Cahaner, Modern Ultra-Orthodoxy.
14. Sasson-Levy, “A Different Kind of Whiteness.”
15. Sasson-Levy and Shoshana, “‘Passing’ as (Non)Ethnic.”
16. Shoshana, “The Phenomenology of New Social Category.”
17. Handelman, “Charisma.”
18. Ben-Rafael and Sharot, Ethnicity Religion and Class.
19. Dahan, Ha-im Kur Ha-Hituch.
20. In 1997, the Council of Higher Education initiated legislation and standards which, starting in 1999, lowered the number of foreign branches to about 25.
21. Heilman and Friedman, “Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Jews”; Schiffman and Finkelman, “The ‘Kollel’.”
22. See note 6 above.
23. See, for instance, Ayalon and Yuchtman-Yaar, “Educational Opportunities.”
24. Ayalon, “Field of Study and Students.”
25. Deshen, Immigrant Voters in Israel.
26. See, for example, Gonen, “Obstacles to Middle-Class.”
27. Examples included David Magen from Kiryat Gat; Meir Sheetrit from Yavneh; Ovadia Ali from Moshav Elifelet; Shaul Amor (1940–2009) from Migdal ha-Emek; and Moshe Katzav from Kiryat Malakhi.
28. Session of the Herut central committee, 23 June 1974, Jabotinsky Institute archive.
29. Cohen and Leon, “The Mahapach.”
30. For more on the stereotypic discourse, see Mizrachi, “From Badness to Sickness.”
31. Sasson-Levy, “Military, Masculinity, and Citizenship.”
32. Altman and Shumpelbi, “Netanyahu on Cottage Cheese.”
33. See note 29 above.
34. Even before the 2015 elections, he spoke extensively about competition and streamlining of institutional bodies such as the banks, insurance companies, credit companies, and more. See (in Hebrew): www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-357071-00.html; www.bizportal.co.il/capitalmarket/news/article/381267
35. www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/388/009.html (Hebrew)
36. Haggai, “Kahlon’s Senior Woman Candidate.”
37. Bornstein-Hadad, “Kahlon’s Revolution.”
38. Geertz, The Interpretation, 17–19.
39. See Cohen, Ha-Har ve-ha-Giv’ha, 257–286.
40. Shas is a prominent example, and its 2015 elections campaign expressed this. One of the party’s campaign slogans emphasized ‘tribal’ responsibility: ‘A Mizrahi votes for a Mizrahi.’