Israeli Politics Final Paper

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

Lecture 17: Politics & Religion in Israel

Israeli Politics

Dr. Evgeni Klauber, Spring 2019

Agenda:

1. Some more words on Israeli Political Regime

2. The Religion-Secular Divide

3. Q & A

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

Fukuyama (1992) The End of History

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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Huntington (1993) The Clash of

Civilizations

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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• The political-religious connection

• A map of religious groups

• Some historical landmarks of religion in Israel.

• The theological roots: attitude of four main religious groups to Zionism and

redemption

• Focus on UO sector: characteristics and contemporary trends.

• Radical RZ and Shas – overview

• The secular-Religious divide in Israel.

Politics and Religion in Israel

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

• Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel (1948)

• Administration of Religious Affairs

• The Role of the Ministry of Religious Affairs

• Judaism is a nondenominational religion

– Orthodox

– Conservative (Traditional)

– Progressive (Reform)

• Intra-Judaic tensions

Politics and Religion in Israel

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

The 120 members of the first Knesset were elected on 25 January 1949.

The breakdown by party was as follows:

• MAPAI (Labor): 46

• Mapam: 19

• United Religious Front: 16

• Herut: 14

• General Zionists: 7

• Progressive Party: 5

• Sephardim and Oriental Communities: 4

• Maki: 4

• Democratic List of Nazareth: 2

• Fighters' List: 1

• WIZO: 1

• Yemenite Association: 1

The Secular-religious Status Quo

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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In Israel, the term status quo (or the

secular-religious status quo) relates to

the understandings between religious

and secular political players not to

change the communal arrangement in

relation to religious affairs.

The Secular-religious Status Quo

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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Right wing politics

Left wing politics

Politics and Religion in Israel

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

Ultra Orthodox

Lithuanian

(UTJ)

Hassidic

Sephardic (Shas)

Religious

Modern Orthodox

Religious Zionist

(Jewish Home)

Radical Religious

Zionist

Traditional

Mainstream traditional

(Likud)

“Masorti” and Reform streams

(Shas)

Secular

Non-religious

Anti-religious

Politics and Religion in Israel

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

Israeli Jewish Religious Belief

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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Israeli Jewish Religious Practice

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

• 1947 - Ben Gurion’s “Status quo” with Aguda.

• 1949 - “Unified religious front” part of first government (includes Haredim)

• 1950’s - First conflicts: Aguda leaves government over women soldiers, Ben

Gurion resigns.

• 1977 – Religious parties caused downfall of government over desecration of

Sabbath.

• Gradually, increased power, more political parties, veto parties. (in current

Knesset: 3 umbrella parties)

• 1999 – “the ½ million demonstration” against high court’s anti religious bias.

• 2000 – Tal Law – attempt to regulate and minimize UO exemption from IDF

service.

Politics and Religion in Israel: the Timeline

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1. Extreme rejection of Zionism, demonization of

Israel.

2. Rejection of secular character of State.

3. Compartmentalization

4. Expansion: Israel=ongoing redemption.

Politics and Religion in Israel: 4 religious

Standings Towards Israel

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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Universalists

Flexible on Peace

Process

Capitalism

Free Market

Socialism

17

Nationalists

Not Flexible on Peace

Process

Ideological

Spectrum in Israel

2013 Elections

Likud + YB

31

Labor

(MAPAI)

15

Yesh Atid

(Yair Lapid)

19

Shas

11

United

Tora

7

United

Arab List

5

Hatenua

6

Hadash

4

Meretz

6

Habayit

Hayehudi

11

Balad

3

Kadima

2

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• Deterministic messianism

• Essentialism

• Perfectionism

This leads both to reject the state of Israel, its law, and

pragmatic politics.

(Ravitzky, 1993)

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• A commitment to Jewish Israeli peoplehood

• An attempt to direct Israel to a more religious path.

• (relatively) pragmatic political involvement.

 The question of Zionism  Stance towards modernity  Stance towards the “secular”  Stance towards army service, state civil religion and “common

narrative”.

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“All the Great

leaders of Israel

have warned us that

the impurity of

Zionism is the root

and source of all the

troubles that are in

the world, spiritually

and concretely”.

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“Answer to the

soldier and the

policeman

According to the laws of

the Torah it is forbidden

completely to transfer

Jewish land to a non-

Jew”.

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

2019

Warning:

“Preserve your souls!

A serious warning to the

population that rides Geula

taxis between Bnei Brak and

Jerusalem: Beware, most of

the drivers are Arabs, avid

supporters of Hamas. Their

Koran commands every single

Arab to destroy the Jews”.

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Spring

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The danger of the

computer. Recently new destructive

focres that we never

imagined have caused

many of us to bring into our

homes through computers

poison that kills, God

forbid, and threatens to

destroy the entire sanctity

of the Jewish home”

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2019

Civil Religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and Political

Culture in the Jewish State, by Charles S. Liebman, Eliezer Don-Yihya

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Fall 2018

Israel is a sovereign and legitimate nation state (both de-jure and de-facto); it's political regime is liberal

democracy (yet debated by the essentialists); it's society is a mosaic in which ethnicity, class, gender, religion,

nationality and migration (also foreign labor) play a dynamic part in the intricacies of the political system. The

Israeli society has experienced some major socio-political changes during its history: The period until the mid-

1970's, when one political party (MAPAI) dominated the socio-political arena and the second, until the

present day when the political system has been through many changes that alter the political characters of the

society. Israel has also experienced some crucial changes within its collective identity: from the early 1950s,

when the founding fathers and mothers tried to mold a diverse immigrant population into a homogeneous

modern secular Jewish society (the melting pot), to the collapse of the hegemonic Ashkenazi culture and the

development of post-modern multi-center society with multi-culturalism. In addition, recently there is an

impact of globalization and the “Americanization” on Israeli culture. The legacy Israel inherited from the

British Mandate at its independence in 1948 included the emerging of welfare state. For a while, the new

country led by MAPAI built a broadly inclusive social infrastructure on this base. Today, however, after the

processes of global liberalization and privatization, the government is basically limited to providing security,

minimal education and health care, and not much else. But the needs of the poor, the vulnerable, the elderly

and of the new immigrants can never be adequately met by private means alone, and it turns out that the

decay of Israeli welfare state has brought to a broader social and political gaps within Israeli society.

The search for peace in the Middle East dates back to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, a war

following the invasion of the Jewish state by Arab countries, and the subsequent displacement of many

Palestinian Arabs. The breakthrough for peace came in 1993 when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed to a framework for Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza in

the Oslo accords. After Rabin's assassination in 1995, the peace process faltered. Relations between Israelis

and Palestinians turned sour as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's slowed down diplomatic momentum after

Oslo largely because of security concerns and ideological resistance to withdraw from occupied/disputed

territories.

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Fall 2018

Your task: Write a five (5) pages essay that will expand the given

above paragraph. Present in your paper the recent debates on the

issues of sovereignty, legitimacy, regime-type and social gaps. Use at

least five (5) academic articles to introduce the problematic of the

given issues (at least 3 from course syllabus).

Final Exam

21-May-19Israeli Politics; Klauber, Fall 2018

​And finally, Thank you very much for the time and efforts

you invested in this course; It was my pleasure having you ALL in my class. I wish you all a very

productive 2019 Fall semester and the best of luck on your finals and in your

journey ahead.