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Election ’03 Activity: Israeli Parties & Issues - Get to Know Them!

Description: Survey activity with worksheets, answer guide, selected comparison profiles of “typical” voters in significant parties

Suitability: Ages 12 upwards

Goal: To facilitate participants’ familiarization of the parties and issues involved in the 2003 Israeli Knesset Elections; in addition, can be used beyond the Election context for insight into political trends and Israeli society

Materials:

• Party leader document (http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/actual/elections/2003/parties.html)
• Party platform document (note: add website address when this document goes up)
• Pens (1 per participant)
• Opinion poll survey question sheets and master list/hints sheets (1 per participant)
• Opinion poll answer sheets, (about 4 per participant)
• Poster board or dry-erase (white) board for recording group results with appropriate markers
• Voter profiles (one set per sub-group)
• Voter profiles explained (1 for facilitator with option to copy for participants)
• Party platform documents (two sets per sub-group)

Procedure:

1. Facilitator begins with a brief overview of the elections, handing out the party leader document and party breakdown by bloc document.
2. The group should get an initial impression of the knowledge of its own members of the most basic issues. The following FAQ sheet may address some specific questions: http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/actual/elections/2003/law.html. Leader profiles are available at: http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/actual/elections/2003/primaries.html
3. Participants then review ‘opinion poll’ sheets in order to be familiar with the answers.
4. They then give the poll to a designated number of interviewees, say three or four.
5. After gathering the information, participants return to the group and report their results.
6. They should also discuss to what extent they expected or were surprised by the level of knowledge of the survey group.
7. In the next stage, the students divide into sub-groups and review profiles of six ‘typical’ voters. For each profile they should review the party platform document and try to guess which two or three parties that voter might consider. The facilitator should then reveal the actual results based on the facilitator sheet provided, adding his or her own personal anecdotes from discussions with potential voters.
8. Finally, the facilitator should inform the group that the Jewish Agency Pedagogic Center is interested in hearing their opinions. It would be great if a volunteer could send a summary of the group’s conclusions to: elections2003@jajz-ed.org.il

Keep in mind the following questions for Procedure #5: Do we think the interviewees know a lot about Israeli politics? Did they make a lot of mistakes? Where is their information weaker? How do people follow the news about Israel? Are people interested or not in Israeli politics in general? Does it make a difference to them which government is elected? Does age play any role on a person’s opinions?

Opinion poll survey questions

1. Which are the three largest Israeli parties in the current Knesset?

2. Besides the three parties above, please name at least one party from each of the following political blocs: left, center, right, religious, Arab

3. Please name up to three party leaders and up to three other Members of Knesset.

4. Please match the following five figures with their parties:

A-Binyamin Ben-Eliezer	1-National Religious Party
B-Natan Sharansky	2-Yisrael B’Aliyah
C-Eli Yishai	3-Likud
D-Shaul Mofaz	4-Labor
E-Effie Eitam	5-Shas

5. What is Shinui’s view on religion and state?

1. Israel needs to change the Law of Return to allow only Jews by Orthodox standards to make Aliyah (immigrate)
2. Religious and secular Jews need to learn to live together by having a united school system similar to the Jewish day school networks abroad
3. The power of the Orthodox monopoly should be broken in favor of a secularized society free of religious coercion

6. For the following questions, please state:
strongly agree/ agree/ disagree/ disagree strongly
(parties in parentheses support the preceding statement):

1. Israel should accept the principle of a Palestinian state achieved through negotiations (Yisrael B’Aliyah, Likud, and left of them)
2. Israel should negotiate without preconditions (Labor and left of it)
3. Jerusalem should remain the united capital of Israel; there is no room for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem (Centrists and right of them)

7. Who has been the most capable leader in Israel of the last five Prime Ministers (Ariel Sharon/ Ehud Barak/ Benjamin Netanyahu/ Shimon Peres/ Yitzhak Rabin)?

Who did you prefer in the 2001 election between Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon?

Who would be more capable this time, Ariel Sharon or Amram Mitzna? Why?

8. Please rank the following considerations for choosing a party if you could vote:

A- Choose the party whose policies are closest to yours even if it would be sure to end up in the opposition
B- Choose the party that you think has the best chance of leading the government
C- Choose a party you like with a realistic chance of being part of the coalition

9. Would it make a difference to you which government was elected?

How so?

10. Regarding your background, do you feel that you keep tabs on Israeli politics?

Please answer: Yes, regularly/ Moderately/ Rarely/ Not at all

If so, what is your primary source (Newspapers/ Magazines/ Radio/ TV/ Internet)?

11. For statistical purposes, please give your age cohort. (12-17/ 18-29 / 30-44 / 45-64/ 65+)

Opinion poll answers

1. Three largest Israeli parties:

__________________________

2. Left: __________
Center: _________
Right: __________
Arab: __________
Religious: _________

3. Leaders:

MKs:

4. A__ B__ C__ D__ E__

5. (Circle one) A B C

6. Agree/Diasagree

6a. (Circle one) Strongly agree/ agree/ disagree/ disagree strongly
6b. (Circle one) Strongly agree/ agree/ disagree/ disagree strongly
6c. (Circle one) Strongly agree/ agree/ disagree/ disagree strongly

7. Most capable leader

7a. (Circle one) Sharon/ Barak/ Netanyahu/ Peres/ Rabin
7b. (Circle one) Ehud Barak / Ariel Sharon
7c. (Circle one) Ariel Sharon / Amram Mitzna

Why?

8. (Rank)
A __ B __ C __

9. (Circle one) Yes No

Reason

10. (Circle one) Yes, regularly/ Moderately/
Rarely/ Not at all

Primary source: Newspapers/ Magazines/
Radio/ TV/ Internet

11. Age cohort (circle one): 12-17/ 18-29 / 30-44 /
45-64/ 65+

Opinion poll survey questions – master list/ hints

1. Which are the three largest Israeli parties in the current Knesset?
LABOR (23), LIKUD (21), AND SHAS (17)

2. Besides the three parties above, please name at least one party from each of the following political blocs: left, center, right, religious, Arab
SEE http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/actual/elections/2003/parties.html AND cross- reference with blocs:
http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/actual/elections/2003/parties.html#bloc

3. Please name up to three party leaders and up to three other Members of Knesset.
LEADERS: http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/actual/elections/2003/parties.html
MKS: http://www.knesset.gov.il/main/eng/engframe.htm (link to info sheets)

4. Please match the following five figures with their parties:
A4 B2 C5 D3 E1

5. What is Shinui’s view on religion and state? (C)

NOTE: QUESTIONS #6-11 ARE STICTLY OPINION OR INFORMATION ORIENTED

Voter profiles

Avi Mizrahi was born in 1960 to immigrant parents from Morocco. Since serving in the IDF he has worked for the phone company Bezeq. He has worked hard, but he feels that discrimination kept him from moving up the company ladder as fast as he would have liked. With three school-aged children, he wants them to have a religious education so they’ll know their heritage, even though he is not particularly observant. After synagogue, he likes to go to Betar Jerusalem football (soccer) games. Avi’s family knows the “Arab” mentality, which he feels only understands acts of strength. He believes that Israel can make peace with the Arabs, but only as long as it does not give in to terror.

Yevgeniya Abramov was born in 1975 in Odessa. She immigrated in 1999 as the daughter of a Jewish father. Her parents stayed behind. Though very talented she lost her job in the high tech crash last year. She feels Jewish, but she does not want to convert. She has a Jewish Ukrainian-Israeli boyfriend, and they want to have a civil marriage in Israel but cannot. She does not know what to think about the peace process because she does not understand its history enough and still has a hard time reading the Hebrew papers. She just wants someone who can help her better absorb into society.

Tal Lipkin was born on a Kibbutz in 1980 to Sabra parents. The family moved to Tel Aviv when Tal started grade school. Tal loves to wind surf, and his idol is world champion Gal Friedman. Tal has had little contact with religious Jews or settlers from over the Green Line, but he resents both. He feels that the State spends too much money on Yeshiva students, who do not serve in the Army, and on the settlements, which keep Israel in conflict with the Palestinians. He is not sure which is more crucial for Israel’s future, keeping the ultra-orthodox out of power to build a more secular society or keeping the far right out of power in order to pursue a peace settlement.

Orli Bar-Lev was born in 1969 in Haifa. Her whole life she has dreamt about Israel living in peace. Her earliest memories are of Menahem Begin shaking hands with then president Anwar Sadat of Egypt. Having learned Arabic, she worked in intelligence for the Army during the first Intifada. While she was horrified by some of the things the Palestinians were writing, she was also bothered by some of Israel’s actions in the Territories. She supported the Oslo peace accords but became disenchanted with them after the series of suicide bombings in 1996. After two years of the renewed Intifada, she is sick and tired of the violence but doesn’t know whom Israel can talk to anymore.

Menahem Eisenstadt was born in 1972 to a religious family in Ramat Gan. After the Yom Kippur War, his parents decided to follow the Greater Israel movement and moved to Qedumim near Shechem (Nablus). A few years later they felt a little too isolated and moved to a newer, more urban settlement known as Karnei Shomron. Menahem served in a Hesder unit, where he learned part time and soldiered part time. Menahem has always felt most at home in the biblical Land of Israel and could not believe that any government would want to give it up. He feels that the “Palestinians” have only given the country grief with their terror. It’s time to get tougher with them.

Voter profiles explained

Note: these profiles are by no means comprehensive but rather provide a simplified selection of floating voters between the major and significant minor parties.

Avi Mizrahi represents the crowd wavering between Shas and Likud. The Likud party had attracted many Sephardi Jews, who were bitter about their immigrant experience and thus disenchanted with the Labor establishment, in the 1970s. However, the Shas party grew from 4 seats in 1984 to 17 seats in 1999, mainly at the expense of Likud, as it focused on purely social issues concerning Sephardi Jews and greatly increased Sephardi representation in the Knesset. Shas also benefited from the Direct Election Law that allowed the electorate to split its vote. Finally, Shas had a very dynamic leader, Arye Deri, who had to resign amid bribery charges and recently served a jail term. Without Deri, Shas is slated to drop dramatically, with most voters returning to the Likud fold.

Yevgeniya Abramov represents the wave of nearly 1,000,000 immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, who arrived since 1989. Many are centrist to hawkish on the Territories, but they are as much if not more concerned with the difficult transition to a new culture and society. Tens of thousands come from mixed parentage and want to see more civil laws enacted. Hence, people like Yevgeniya are likely to waver between Natan Sharansky’s Yisrael Ba’aliyah party and Avigdor Lieberman’s Ichud Leumi. Those on the more dovish side might prefer Meretz, which has brought in Roman Bronfman of Democratic Choice, which split from Yisrael Ba’aliyah in the outgoing Knesset.

Tal Lipkin represents the liberal crowd that wants Israel as a Jewish, secular state. Their opposition to Israel’s presence in the Territories and the settlements therein has grown over the years. While they want to protect Israel’s security during the current conflict, they see the dismantling of most settlements and Israel’s evacuation from the Territories as the best guarantee for Israel’s long-term security as well as its Jewish-democratic character. They also oppose what they see as religious coercion that keeps buses from running on Shabbat and people marrying whom they please in the ceremony of their choice. People like Tal are considering either Meretz, which emphasizes the peace issue, or Shinui, which emphasizes the secular issue.

Orli Bar-Lev represents the swing vote between Likud and Labor. Polls indicate that more people are leaning towards Likud, but the hesitation still exists. Many say that the differences between the two have considerably diminished. Indeed, both Prime Ministerial candidates support the idea of a Palestinian state, albeit with different levels of party support and ideas about the final borders of that state. Labor lost a lot of credibility when the Oslo process collapsed. Still, disenchanted Labor supporters are wary of Ariel Sharon’s past and his sincerity to see a peace agreement to the bitter end.

Menahem Eisenstadt represents the hard-line sector of Israeli society, whose views have only been sharpened by the violence of the al-Aqsa Intifada. They predicted that Oslo would fail and it did. Many did not support the idea of transferring Arabs, but the violence of late has convinced some that Israel might have no other choice if it wants to control Judea and Samaria and preserve Israel’s security. As a religious Jew, Menahem’s loyalties are split between the NRP and Ichud Leumi.