Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The (Ashkenazic) Haredim advocate enforcing certain religious practices in public, such
as stopping public transport on the Sabbath and confi rming rabbinic control over personal
status issues. They also want to maximize budget allocations for their school systems, maintain
military exemption for Haredi men, and retain high child allowances for families with more
than fi ve children. Those on the most secular end advocate separation of religion and state,
including the establishment of civil marriage. Small secular parties highlighting the issue have
come and gone without retaining enough leverage to change much. Most Israelis are content
to maintain the status quo. The main parties —Likud, Labor, and Kadima —would not sacri-
fi ce the ability to form a coalition to push through such changes. Thus, the secular-religious
balance remains very stable over time despite much controversy and debate.
The Arab parties, though considered to be on the left, are actually interest-group parties.
But they are divided because of strong ideological differences between Islamist, Communist,
and Arab nationalist standpoints. The Islamists back Hamas; the Communists supported the
Soviet Union until its disintegration and Fatah afterward; and the nationalists support Fatah.
None of these parties has challenged the Muslim clerical domination of most Arabs' personal
status issues.
Yet many Arabs, almost half, also vote for ostensibly Jewish parties to take advantage of
the parties' links to the Histadrut, patronage networks, and other institutions. At times, for
example, a surprising number of Arabs have voted for Shas in exchange for fi nancial support
to their towns from ministries that it controlled. Arab ties to the Labor Party have traditionally
been through trade unions.
The third, though less important, focal point of Israeli politics is economic. In Israel's ear-
lier political history, there was an ideological divide between socialists and economic liberals.
Since the 1980s, modernization, privatization, and globalization have made these differences
largely disappear. Israel retains aspects of a welfare state, yet a consensus across the political
spectrum accepts these features. Although Amir Peretz tried to revive Labor's socialist rheto-
ric in the 2004 elections during his brief time as party leader, his reversion did not stem the
party's decline. Consequently, the main parties in contemporary Israel do not differ greatly in
economic ideology.
Entitlements have been kept at a low enough level to be sustainable, unlike in many other
Western countries, where such government payments have swamped the national budget and
contributed to massive debt. To some extent, the need for high levels of defense spending has
made excessive entitlements impossible, and because the public understands the necessity of
the defense priority, it has accepted that orientation.
Aside from these issues, the major impetus for creating parties is to champion a single issue
or constituency. Small parties have been created around the interests of immigrants from the
former Soviet Union, the environment (there have been several green parties), pensioners'
rights, and even the legalization of marijuana.
Historically, one other motive for creating parties has been the idea that a centrist group,
located between Labor and Likud, could muster wide support. The electorate might well vote
for a party that could presumably provide good government and consensus policies. Parties
