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SPEAKER'S NOTES: ISRAELI POLITICS - Questions & Answers

Neil Lazarus

Shlichim, madrichim and teachers are often faced with a number of problematic questions regarding politics in Israel. Below is a brief outline of possible answers. For some terms, a more comprehensive definition of the term appears in the 'glossary' at the end of the choveret.

This section has, for your convenience been divided into two. The first part provides answers to more technical questions regarding politics in Israel, whereas the second section refers to hasbara related issues.

SECTION ONE

1. "How does the Israeli political system differ from the political system in my country?"

   Answer briefly in stages:

   i.
   Ask the questioner to review the political system in their country of origin. Is there more than one chamber? What is the role of the President? etc. This will enable you to compare the situation with Israel. [see government charts in other files]

   ii.
   Israel is a parliamentary democracy with three separate branches, all balancing each other. The 'three branches of government' are: the legislative (the Knesset), the executive (the government) and the Judiciary (the court system). The President is the head of state and has a symbolic importance; he represents the interests of the country apolitically. The Judiciary is independent from political interest.

   ======================================================================

   HEAD OF STATE
   PRESIDENT

   BRANCH 1	BRANCH 2	BRANCH 3
   Legislative	Executive	Judiciary
   Speaker	Prime Minister	Court System
   Knesset	Government Ministries
   Commitees	State Comptroller	Attorney General
   Local Council	Mayor and Council Head

2. "How is the Government formed in Israel?"

   Answer in brief:

   i.
   How do elections work in your country?

   ii.
   Well the system in Israel is changing. We have elections every four years. In the past every eligible citizen voted for the party of their choice (not the member of parliament as is the case in Britain). The President then decided which leader of a political party is most likely to be able to form a new government (normally the leader of the party with the largest number of Knesset seats). If the candidate was successful within 21 days then (s)he would become Prime Minister.

   But in 1996, a new system was introduced. Eligible voters will have two votes: one for their preferred party and one for the Prime Minister, chosen from a list of candidates [two, this time].

3. "Who can vote?"

   Answer in brief:
   Any citizen over the age of 18.

4. "How is a party formed?"

   Answer in brief:

   Any group of individuals can form a new party and run for election. But first they must deposit 23,000 NIS with the (election committee) and obtain the signatures of 2500 eligible voters. The candidate must be over 21 years of age.

   The President, the State Comptroller, judges and senior public officials as well as the Chief of Staff are disqualified from presenting their candidacy unless they have resigned their position 100 days before election.

5. "How is a Knesset member chosen?"

   Answer in brief:

   Each party submits a list of 120 names of possible members Knesset, in order of preference. The party's MK's will be chosen from this list, after the General election when it is clear how many seats the party has received.

6. "How are seats allocated to parties after the Election?"

   Answer in brief:

   Israel does not have constituencies. In fact, the number of seats a party holds in the Knesset is a direct reflection of how many votes were received. A party must, however, receive 1.5% of all votes cast in order to achieve its first seat.

7. "Is there a known breakdown of voting patterns?"

   Answer in brief:

   Basing trends on the 1988 results, which predate the large Soviet/CIS aliya, and using data from Professor A. Diskin's book, "The Israeli General Election of 1992", Electoral Studies (1992), Section 11:4, pages356-361, which do include this aliya, we know that:

   • 
     Immigrants voted as follows: Labor 47%, Likud 18%, Meretz 11%.

   • 
     Another specific group of the population, the Arab sector, split their vote among many more parties: Hadash 23% (33%), Labor 21% (17%), Arab Democratic Party 16% (11%), Meretz 10% (11%), PLP 9% (14%), NRP 5% (3%), Shas 5% (1%), Likud 8% (7%), Tsomet 1% ()%), Others 2% (3%)

   • 
     Another type of breakdown was done by place of residence, and the major trends are as follows for the three large conurbations:

     Jerusalemites: Likud 25.6%, Labor 29.9%, United Torah Jewry 13.4%;
     Tel Avivians: Labor 38.5%, Likud 25.9%, Meretz 13.7%;
     Haifa: Labor 45.2%, Likud 20.2%, Meretz 11.2%

   • 
     A more detailed breakdown was done for the territories, with a far lower vote for center/left parties, as follows:
     Likud 28% (32%), NRP 18% (16%), Labor 15% (15%), Tsomet 10% (3%), Meretz 4% (4%), Shas 3% (4%), Degel Hatorah 2% (5%), Moledet 9% (6%), Tehiya 6% (13%), Others 5% (2%).

   • 
     Those voting in the IDF are serving soldiers and reserves in the general population, and their pattern is more in line with those for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; the results for the smaller parties are also indicative of who does and doesn't do military service [Druze and Circassian citizens do serve; Arab citizens do not have to serve; some ultra-orthodox Jewish sects apply for service exemptions; orthodox Jewish girls are not compelled to serve, although many in the religious Zionist sector choose to do military or national service.]

     The spread is as follows: Labor 31% (29%), Likud 24% (35%), Tsomet 16% (5%), Moledet 4% (2%), Tehiya 2% (9%), Meretz 15% (11%), NRP 4% (2%), Shas 2% (3%), Degel Hatorah 1% (2%), Others 1% (2%)

SECTION TWO

1. "Why should Israel be a democracy? - no one else in the region is!"

   Many people believe that Israel should be a 'light unto the nations' - an example state. Democracy, as a system that guarantees basic human freedoms, is surely the best system, despite its faults; and most particularly to Jews, who have always been amongst the first victims of undemocratic systems.

2. "How can Israel be considered democratic when Arabs don't have the vote?"

   Here you need to be more specific!

   Arabs who are citizens of Israel do have the vote. They also have a political party, the Arab Democratic Party, which seeks to represent them and many support Hadash, the Israel Communist Party; some support the Progressive List for Peace. [The latter are both parties with mixed populations].

   Palestinians of Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip do not have the vote in Israel because they are not citizens of the State. Palestinians in Judea and Samaria were citizens of Jordan. In order for Palestinians receive the vote, Israel would have to annex the territories - a move counter to the current autonomy process.

3. "Isn't Zionism Racist?"

   This is nonsense.

   The realization of the Zionist dream is exemplified by more than 4 million Jews from more than 100 countries, including dark skinned Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen and India who are Israeli citizens.

   Approximately 900,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Baha'is, Circassians and other ethnic groups are all represented in Israel population.

   The presence of thousands of black Jews in Israel is the best refutation of the claim that Zionism is Racism. In a series of historic airlifts labeled Moses (1984), Joshua (1985) and Solomon (1991), Israel rescued almost 42,000 members of the ancient Ethiopian Jewish community.

   Writing after Operation Moses, William Saphire noted: "For the first time in history, thousands of black people are being brought to a country not in chains but in dignity, not as slaves but as citizens."

   To single out Jewish self determination for condemnation is a form of racism. Indeed, when one student who attacked Zionism approached Martin Luther King, he was met with the answer, "when people criticize Zionism they mean Jews. You're talking anti-semitism."

   The 1975 UN resolution equating Zionism with racism was in fact part of the Soviet-Arab Cold War anti-Israel campaign. Almost all the former non-Arab supporters of the resolution have apologized and changed their positions. When the General Assembly voted to repeal the resolution in 1991, only some Arab and Muslim states, as well as Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam opposed the repeal.

   Source: Myths and Facts - Mitchell G. Bard & Joel Himelfarb

4. "How Can Israel be called democratic when small religious parties control the system!?"

   i.
   The electoral system in Israel is a proportional democratic system. That is to say, it seeks to democratically represent the different elements in Israel society in proportion to their size. If you have a look at the parties present in the Knesset, you will see all elements of Israeli society represented, from ultra-orthodox Ashkenazim to Israeli Arabs.

   Ask: Is it the same in your country or are there a few broader parties that incorporate many interests?

   ii.
   A problem with our system of democracy is, as you suggested, that smaller parties have a disproportional amount of power. Many people in Israel believe we need to change our system and reform has already begun. In the last election parties had to receive a large percentage of the vote to get a seat in the Knesset. (1.5% of the vote). In 1996 we will also vote for our Prime Minister directly - this is also intended to redress the balance.

   Electoral reform in any country is an attempt to improve the democratic system and as in all democratic countries Israel's electoral system has room for improvement.

   As Tom Stoppard said: "It's not the voting that's democracy: it's the counting!!"