Israeli internal divisions?

[friendofisrael]

Im a fervent pro-Israeli in the political/religious/military sense, however as an outsider I still know very little about internal Israeli politics, culture etc.

Can somebody try and explain the main divisions within Israel? (please dont mention the palestinians, i know about that one!)

Eg. Are most Israelis zionists, whilst having differing 'bread and butter' politics?

Do all Israelis support the IDF/defence etc, whatever their politics?

Also are there divisions between jewish immigrants from Germany/Poland/Russia etc, or is all that long forgotten?

Thanks

[Gilgamesh]

Im a fervent pro-Israeli in the political/religious/military sense, however as an outsider I still know very little about internal Israeli politics, culture etc.

Good to know you!
I will do my best to answer your question, as a original proud Israeli born Zionist Jew.

Can somebody try and explain the main divisions within Israel? (please dont mention the palestinians, i know about that one!)

Israel has a proportional democracy, which means multy party coalition.
Israel party divisions is divided once into blocks, and then into parties with similar ideas.

A. Zionist right wing, contains several parties: Likud, NRP, National Union, Israel our home.

B. Zionist left wing - the labour party.

C. Anti Zionist Left - Containst the Islamic party, The pro-Syrian Arab party, the Communist, and the socialist Meretz party.

D. Non-Zionist Orthodox - Shas, Jews of Torah (Agudath Israel).

Political divides:
1. Secutiry - war on terrorism vs. peace & surreder.
2. degree of seperation between religious and secular laws.
3. Economic liberalization and privetization. The Right wing and Labour are united on economic liberalization. The rest are somewhat against, wanting more welfare money transfared into their sectors.
4. Enviorement and water conserving issues (water quatos and pricing).
5. The degree of seperation between the authories, or in other words: the extent of political power in the hands of the high court of justice. ("judical activism").
6. The fate of Jewish settlements in the liberated territories, the judian heartland.

Though the security takes up much of Israelis time energies and media time, we have other issues in our agenda:

1. curroption - more and more cases of curroption are discovered by the media and capture attention for some time. Ofcouse many Israelis think we are now "the most curropted nation on earth", but these are silly exagurations. The political and social landscape has changed. Things dubious norms overlooked at the past, are considered crimminal today. Same goes for the defenition of sexual harrasment, where is the border between office romance and sexual misconduct or assult? On one hand, coupled met and married following a office romance while some romances ended with mutual accusations, and some times rape allegation found substational.

2. The Darfur genocide: A demonstration of Arab blood lust

3. reducing trafic accidents.

4. More personal security, greater punishment for law breakers, more efficiant police force services, more efficiant civil service and legal systems.

5. Following the above point: calls to amend the laws legalizing the use of privet fire arms and its licensing. The defenition of "kill in self defense" is under scrutiniy. The debate about the defenition of self defense is as anciant as the bible itself. The current legislation is similar to Jewish moral teachings, which is extemly narrow definition, meaning the killer who killed in self defense had no other choise: killing the assulten was either not ment or wounding was not enough.

6. Health issue: goverment ban on some igridiants of industiral snacks, more goverment subsedies on medicine, calls for less sugar, salt and fats on industiral food products. enfocing the ban on smoking. the level of risk caused by cellular regional antenas.

7. Defenition of Zionism and the role of the military in civilian lives.

Eg. Are most Israelis zionists, whilst having differing 'bread and butter' politics?

Most Israelis are Zionist still. The communist have never been as weak at these days. There are planty of political action organizations which belong to the far radical left. There are some worries that in the future they might mutate into red brigades, but it is not so today.
The radical "anarchists" have money and anti-zionist political agenda. They are by far louder and noiser then their actual power or numbers.

Do all Israelis support the IDF/defence etc, whatever their politics?

All Zionist Israeli Jews support the IDF and draft the army. Though the number of draft doggers is rising increasingly. The phenomena is gaining some social acceptance because of critisism of the military leadership carelessnes in preserving soldiers lives and health. On the other hand, the number of actual combat soldiers needed is shrinking, due to budget decisions and modernizations. A modern soldier has more firepower in his disposel then a whole platoon of the 60's.

Also are there divisions between jewish immigrants from Germany/Poland/Russia etc, or is all that long forgotten?

This is the hardest thing to explain non-Israeli.
It is true Jews in Israel are strongly identify with the community they were born into or arrived from, but its not always corraspond to modern political borders. Jews of Romanian or Russian decent do not consider themselves as Romanian or Russian or Arab (if they came from Arab countries) but as Jews first.

Each Jewish community carries some cultural subcultural nuances. Each community has a little different family values regarding women status, work and studies, and life style in general. There is also the custom of counting celebrities: "who is one of us, and who isn't". Also, home cooking and tradional recapies are national pass time and popular conversation topic.

However, the tensions among communities are on the overall sharply reducing over the years. We all here, have clear and solid feeling of being one unified nation, which our place is in the land of Israel. The general feeling is that community differences are thing of the past. Since we are Jews first, we have no particular connection to the land of origion, since our REAL origin is in the land of Israel and not the different European or Arab countries, were we lived for centuries.

The proof is the frequancy of intermarrige between Israelis of different Jewish community decent. Israelis set aside most of the sub cultural differences and decide for their own which life style suits them.

The divide across socio-ecconomical levels of the society, or the role of religion in one life, form a great divide then communities of decent.

[sharonbn]

The Israeli society is divided along all social and cultural lines, making it both interesting and daunting to the outsider (and even to many insiders). I will try to do my best to describe all factions and groups that make up this unique society.

First and most clear and deep division is, of course, between Jewish Israelis and non Jewish Israelis, most of which are from Arab origin. Israeli Arabs make ~18% of the Israeli citizenship holders. Altough they enjoy full civil rights, there is very little social integration between them and the Jewish population, and the riff was deepen following the start of the second intifada and the Oct. 2000 violent riots, where 13 Israeli Arabs were killed by Israeli police.

From now on I'm going to speak about internal conflicts within the Jewish Israeli population.

The political division between left and right is mostly about the borders of the state of Israel and about terms of peace with the enemies of Israel. The right wing claims Israeli soveraignity over all territories that are now under Israeli control, including those territories that were occupied following the 1967 six days war. The right wing also favors harsh retaliatory actions against Pal terrorism. for example, "communal punishment" of civilian population. They claim that by supporting terrorist groups like Hamas, all Palestinians are in fact making themselves active enemy of Israel. The left wing supports the formula of "land for peace": Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories in exchange for peace with Lebanon and Syria, and the establishment of independant Palestine. Also, the left wing tends to view the Palestinian civilians as victims who deserve humane regard, and are not to be considered enemy. The right and left wing vary in sizes over the course of Israeli history. At the present times, the right wing is larger than its counterpart, mostly due to the second intifada and the failure of past agreements and talks with the Palestinians.

The economic division is also between left and right. The right wing favors the "neo liberal" approach, as it is implemented in the US, while the left wing favors "social state" policy, similar to Scandinavian countries.

The social division in Israel is between Jews of Ashkenazi descent (European and North America) and those from Mizrahi descent (North Africa and Mideast). In the beginning, Ashkenazi Jews were the majority and they ruled the country, holding all high positions in the government, academic institues, Education system, etc. They patronized over the Mizrahi Jews and kept them out of decision making positions. All this changed when in 1977 the Likud party, considered representative of the Mizrahi Jews and long time underdog, won the election over Labor party, considered representative of the old elites. The Likud indeed changed much of the priorities and some of the balance in the establishment. Today, as most Israelis are second and third generation native, this issue is somewhat subdued, but nevertheless, whenever a person of Mizrahi descent feels he/she are mistreated - they bring out the "descent genee" (poor translation )

Another, more recent division in Israeli society is between "native" Israelis, and the relatively new immigrants from former USSR. Starting from 1990, the gates of USSR opened for Russian Jews to immigrate to Israel, and they came in a big wave of more than a million people in the next decade. Their absorption in the society has been not-so-sucesful for the most part. stereotypes of the drunken Russian male and prostitue Russian female were fixed in the native Israeli mind. Today, many of the immigrants either left Israel, or remained socially isolated within a cultural "Russian ghetto" inside Israel.

The religious division in Israel is between the secular majority and the ultra orthodox community. Like Israeli Arabs (but for a different reason), Most of the ultra orthodox don't serve in the army, whereas mandatory draft is imposed for all other Jews (secular and national religious, aka Kippa Sruga (knit kippa)). They keep themselves isolated from social and cultural lives of the secular, and hence also take little part in business life. they are viewed by the secular Jews as sort of "parasites": enjoying the benefits of gov't funding, while making little contribution in terms of duties and taxes. Moreover, the religious parties are often "the tip of the balance" between the right and left political blocks and are able to "extort" funding and laws for their cause and electorate. They believe they receive less of the gov't funding than they deserve, and also they believe they are the true keepers of the Jewish faith and culture.

OK, for an introduction, that should be enough.....

[sharonbn]

I would like to comment on Gilgamesh post:

Good to know you!
C. Anti Zionist Left - Containst the Islamic party, The pro-Syrian Arab party, the Communist, and the socialist Meretz party.

Meretz party is a Zionist party, both accordig to its agenda, and according to its members.

There are some worries that in the future they might mutate into red brigades, but it is not so today.

I would like to comment that up until today, all Jewish "underground" (aka terrorist) groups have come from the extreme right. Israeli Prime Ministers wear bullet-proof vests and are kept under tight security because of fear of assasination from Palestinian terrorists, as well as extreme right terrorists, but not from threat of any "radical left terrorist".

[Yala]

Meretz party is a Zionist party, both accordig to its agenda, and according to its members.

It is Zionist in name only.

Today, many of the immigrants either left Israel, or remained socially isolated within a cultural "Russian ghetto" inside Israel.

Many? How many, 100k out of 1.3 million?

[sharonbn]

Meretz is Zionist party. period.
About the Russian immigrants, I've seen and read that many of them prefer to keep to themselves and they build internal Russian speaking communities.

[bararallu]

sharonbn,

I think you over simplified matters in your write up, but for the most part you are right...

By over simplification, I'll make some examples: not all Arabs are disenfranchised in Israel, a great many are very happy being Israeli and have Israeli friends. Not sure if you consider Drusim (Circassions, etc.) as Arabs but Arab Christians (I dont count the few Maronites who are always extremely pro Israel in Israel and do not consider themselves Arabs) are extremely happy living in Israel as compared to the regimes surrounding Israel, possibly even Lebanon. That is perhaps why for example the non slavic Christian rate in Israel is expanding while the population under the Moslem run areas in the PA/Hamasland and Jordan and Egypt and Lebanon (aside from Syria which is gaining due to Iraqi refuges) is shrinking, in some places very significantly. The muslims too are biforcated in their "Zionism", with a great many if not the overwhelming majority hoping to stay in Israel rather than be absorbed into the PA or even perhaps Jordanian jurisdiction. The Beduins are a mixed bag, with really two distinct communities, north and south.

Furthermore, the heredi/secular divide is possibly the most serious of all, and you don't really go into that. Another point of contention is the steady and productive integration of Mizrachi and Ashkenazi Jews. A good deal of my family is "intra-married" and they have been in Israel since only the 60/70's from the FSU/Balkans. Most of the harshest social unrest is between the poorer North Africans and the 90's "Russians," and that area also sees some of the highest levels of marriage (I cant seem to find the article I've read on the topic a few years back but you can see it often w/ your own eyes). In terms of Russians, only the ethnically Russian, or the very heavily intermarried are insular; but they show up at the Army barracks all the same and do due diligence for the country even if many resent it. You should mention the fact that no one is keeping them in Israel and all of them, having come to Israel after the demise of the SU did not have their Russian, etc, passports taken and can return to their homelands at their pleasure but most are happy enough to stay in Israel and either pay taxes or collect your & mine tax shekels.

Also, while the Ashkenazim did for the most part establish the state early on, there have always, always been major involvement from Mizrachi communities, especially the Iraqi and Yemenite Jews, who started arriving in numbers just before the founding of the state. Not to mention the fact that they were in Israel before even the 1st Yishuv.

This also begs the question of inter Mizrachi and inter Ashkenazi issues. I don't know about your family but all Romanian Jews I know (like my whole family) consider Hungarian ones broiges , and all Polish and Russian Jews didn't really appreciate the Yekkers trying to install German as the official language of education in the later days of the 2nd Yishuv. Farsim probably, and I speak generally, do not like "the so called French of north Africa" as much as... well you get the drift. I'm not even going to touch the "Jewish Underground" aspect, nor Meretz being Zionist, I suspect others will in due course.

We have a lot of dirty laundry, if you are going to air it, then please take out the underwear .

[Yala]

Meretz is Zionist party. period.

Why, because you say so? They are not judging by their words and actions. Period.

About the Russian immigrants, I've seen and read that many of them prefer to keep to themselves and they build internal Russian speaking communities.

You said many left and I would say less than 10% is not "many." I agree with you about their communities, but this will probably change with the next generation.

[friendofisrael]

Gilgamesh & Sharonbn

[friendofisrael]

Gilgamesh & Sharonbn

Oops double post!

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it. Going to Israel in 2008 hopefully.

[bararallu]

Yala,

It's a lot more than 10%, I'd say at least 30%. There are places in Bat Yam and Rishon and Haifa where you cant hear any Hebrew. Almost all Jews try to learn Hebrew on arrival, and the old ones speak Yiddish for the most part. If you see under 30 year olds speaking Russian in the street these days, they are for the most part Russian.

[wellofvow]

Ask 10 Israelis about Zionism and what divides our society, and you will get 12 different answers.

I applaud Gilgamesh for his brave attempt - he did a good job, and I agree with most of Sharonbn's additions/corrections. However.

As an American-Israeli (and by this, I mean that I moved to Israel at the age of 23 with an undergraduate degree), I feel that one of the biggest divides in Israel is those who understand what election reform would bring, and those who do not understand. Representative governance and responsibility towards your electorate would solve many of the divides and power struggles mentioned by my fellow Israelis. I dream of living to see that all members of Knesset have more than a high-school diploma.... That the Minister of Finance have an advanced degree in economics, that the Health Minister be a physician, or at least have an MPH, etc.

Yes, there is a problem with those immigrants who came in the big wave from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. The smart ones, however, realize that there is a lot of resentment against them, and make an effort to assimilate. It will take a generation.

I myself married another American within months of moving to Israel. We had three children. One is married to another "Ashkenazi", another is married to half-Ashkenazi, half-Iraqi, and the third is going with a girl who is not Ashkenazi. For Israelis who were born here, educated here, went through the army, and then had higher education, the ethnic "divides" seem to matter less.

Just as a final note, and I'm really not sure how to express this accurately: I don't think "Zionist" has the same meaning that it had, say, just 30 years ago. I came to Israel as an idealistic Zionist, and 38 years later, I am still an idealist to a large extent, and certainly what I would call a patriotic Israeli. I no longer am sure what "Zionist" means in 2007. If it means that I believe that Israel is, and should be, the homeland for all Jews, then I am a Zionist. If, in the mind of others, it has been twisted to "mean" that I am opposed to anyone else living in Israel and being a full-fledged "Israeli", then NO, I am not that. I believe in a Jewish majority in Israel, but not that others should be excluded, or second-class citizens, or anything of the sort.

This is a veryveryvery brief answer....

[bararallu]

I think wellofvow has a good point, there are "anglo-saxons" and everyone else

[wellofvow]

Shucks, there are parts of Beer Sheva where I am thrilled to hear Hebrew, and not Russian, spoken. One of those is Soroka Hospital.

And I don't agree that if you hear someone under 30 speaking Russian, they are "Russians". When I am with English-speaking friends, I speak English. When I am with others, I speak Hebrew. And the same for my Spanish-speaking, Hungarian-speaking, Rumanian-speaking, etc. neighbors. When my kids are with me, they speak English, and they were born here. What is really wonderful, I think, is hearing young-adult Ethiopians speaking Hebrew with each other and not Amharic.

[wellofvow]

I think wellofvow has a good point, there are "anglo-saxons" and everyone else

exCUSE me???

Did I come across a snob?????