where conflicts between individuals and worldviews build the foundation of the Jewish state.
“21st Century Israel Politics” offers a riveting exploration of the dynamic clash of personalities the collision of worldviews, ideologies, and political parties that sculpt the very soul of the Jewish nation.
This site orders the maze of Israeli political groups and beliefs following a political spectrum that extends from left to right and from moderate to extreme religiosity.
By gaining a deeper understanding of the forces at play, the visions that drive change, and the beliefs that define the future of this remarkable country, subscribers to this site hold a front seat in the heart of Israel’s political theater and witness history in the making.
Charged atmosphere in the diaspora of the third Jewish Commonwealth. At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, Mordechai Brafman, a 27-year-old Miami Beach plumber, was driving south on Pine Tree Drive when he saw what he thought were
Lapid’s fluid political view is fueled by his conviction that: “there are no simple answers to complex questions; there is only the intelligent and level-headed management of changing situations.”
do you swear by God and by the homeland and on the Torah to faithfully and devotedly fulfill the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Religions, to which you have been appointed, and to uphold and enforce, as far as it depends on you, the Constitution of Argentina?”
You are Fired! On Tuesday night, Netanyahu fired Yoav Gallant, his defense minister and fiercest opponent. The two politicians have long been at odds despite belonging to the Likud party. In a major disagreement, Netanyahu tried to
The members of Haredi community had long been allowed to dodge conscription if they devoted themselves to religious studies. With the public incensed at what may be seen as Haredi privilege, Netanyahu faces a revolt within his party.
What Now? and then, what? IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to air and ground crews at the Ramon Airbase in southern Israel, October 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces) Iran initially played down Israel’s October
The Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, won the 2022 Israeli parliamentary elections with 32 seats in the 120-member Knesset. The opposition is headed by Yair Lapid, whose Yesh Atid party was the second-largest party in Knesset, with 24 seats.
Other parties forming the 64 seats governing coalition include: Religious Zionist Party, 14 seats; Shas, 11; United Torah Judaism and the Shabbat, 7
The opposition parties include: National Unity Party, 12 seats; Yisrael Beitenu, 6; Labor, 4; United Arabs List, 5; Hadash-Ta’al, 5
Though Israel is still a secular country where secular Jews account for 36 percent of the population
it is estimated that by 2059, the Haredi community will constitute 35% of the Jewish population in Israel.”
Notwithstanding its shortcomings, Israel is still one of the Middle East’s rare functioning democracies, with an intense public debate. Its press is combative and free. Moreover, a significant layer of intellectually and politically active people steers public discussions toward the core issues of its society.
If elections were were now, the November 24 polls conducted by Lazar Maariv predict the following results.
Note that neither former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett nor former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have yet created their own parties. Yoav Gallant is still a member of Likud
An optional bloc of the opposition parties, together with Bennett’s and Gallant’s parties, stands at 67 mandates, compared to only 43 for the current coalition parties.
| Likud | National Unity | Yesh Atid | Yisrael Beitenu | The Democrats | Shas | Otzma Yehudit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
19 |
11 |
11 |
7 |
13 |
10 |
7 |
| United Torah Judaism | Hadash Ta'al | Ra'Am | Religious Zionism | Bennett | Gallant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7 |
5 |
5 |
|
23 |
6 |
|
Right and Left
The Political Divide
While in many Western democracies, the left and right political divide is about different positions regarding social and economic issues, in Israel, the terms right and left are associated almost exclusively with land, peace, and security.
Simplistically, one could say that “to be on the left meant willingness to give up land; to be on the right meant compulsively keeping it.” [1]
The terms “right” and “left” in Israel refer primarily to attitudes toward the Palestinians and issues concerning democracy and the judiciary.
The left supports planned economies, whereas the right supports free markets and increasing individual liberties. However, unlike other nations, Israel historically has had a left that opposes “big government” and a right that supports it.
[1] GORENBERG, GERSHOM: The Unmaking of Israel (Kindle loc. 2852)
“The division today is liberal democrats against fascist racists. “It’s an all-or-nothing battle. I don’t see anything in between. This is not a struggle against Bibi, but for Israel’s image 20 and 50 years down the road. Because it’s not Israel’s Arabs who are our problem, definitely not, but some of Israel’s Jews, who with coarseness, with cruelty, are abusing the population they live among in Judea and Samaria. The anti-Israeliness is that of those who are burning [the West Bank village of] Hawara, who are chopping down the Palestinians’ olive trees, who live by Smotrich’s vision, which Netanyahu has effectively adopted.”
Dan Halutz
former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force
by Moshe Pitchon (Author) Available at Amazons.
A new understanding of Judaism is taking shape in Israel. Naftali Bennett is the face of this new Jew. He is the exponent of the third generation of Israeli leaders after the founderst of the state. Author Moshe Pitchon chronicles Bennett’s 15 years of public trajectory. From Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff to CEO of theYesha Council. Head of Habit ha-Yehudi and the Yamina, to several ministerial posts and prime minister. Bennett has been revealing himself to be one of the most adept and intriguing upcoming politiians of the 21st century
Charged atmosphere in the diaspora of the third Jewish Commonwealth. At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, Mordechai Brafman, a 27-year-old Miami Beach plumber, was driving south on Pine Tree Drive when he saw what he thought were
From the “Preface” Notably, the Hebrew language, which serves as the medium through which the Jewish people articulate their understanding of the world and life, does not possess a specific term for ‘history.’ Hebrew thought has long
This is such a terrible story that one has to ask what is the purpose of keeping its memory alive. And from all places, nowhere else but in Israel’s formative literature: the TaNaKh.
There are two possible answers to this question:
"[…] faith and ideology constitute the foundation and the criterion we must adhere to. […] the army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and troops of the Revolutionary Guard […] will be entrusted with the task not only of protecting and preserving our borders but also an ideological mission, that is to say, Jihad in the name of Allah and the world." Western culture is the greatest enemy of the Iranian regime, and for that reason, they hate the West’s leader – the United States, and the country they perceive as its agent in the Middle East, Israel. What feeds the hatred of Israel among the leaders of Iran does not stem from Israel’s policy or its actions but rather from the threat posed to their desired way of life by Western culture. In 1963, after calling the shah a Jew in disguise and accusing him of taking orders from Israel, Ruholla Musavi Khomeini’s biographer Amir Taheri wrote: “The Ayatollah was by now convinced that the central political theme of contemporary life was an elaborate and highly complex conspiracy by the Jews—’ who controlled everything’—to ‘emasculate Islam’ and dominate the world thanks to the natural wealth of the Muslim nations.”
Yair Golan-The Democrats party
We face a unique opportunity today to address the Iranian nuclear program. To this end, we should seek an agreement with the U.S. and other Western states to impose truly crushing sanctions on Iran, along with a credible American military threat, in exchange for Israel refraining from major military operations against it. In the long term, the creation of an anti-Iranian front is preferable to the damage that could be caused by a pinpointed attack on its nuclear program. Israel cannot afford to find itself alone against Iran and must be part of a regional military alignment led by the United States.
Benny Gantz- Resilience Party
The Jewish people are entitled to live in peace and security and not under constant threat. We do not threaten the sovereignty of Tehran or any other country, and we will not tolerate a threat to Israeli sovereignty.
We still have the opportunity of normalization with the Saudis and other states to build what we started to build, the Middle East air defense, to form a stranglehold on the Iranian axis.
Israel must work hard with the US “to build up Israel’s defenses and to be ready for ‘the Judgment Day’ of stopping Iranian nuclear weapons.
by Moshe Pitchon, available December 2024
Yair Lapid-Yesh Atid party
We have a regional problem and it needs a regional solution.
We cannot afford a nuclear Iran reorganizing the Middle East into some sort of hegemony. We cannot allow this to happen and therefore, we will have no option but to go the other way, which is organizing a regional coalition opposite Iran: the Saudis, Emiratis, Bahrainis, Moroccans and, of course, Egypt and Jordan.
This will also create unbelievable opportunities in terms of our economy, in terms of our ability to become part of the Middle East in a smarter way than we are doing now, and maybe in the very distant future, in our ability to live in peace with our neighbors.
The decision, in October, the decision not to attack strategic and economic targets was mistaken
Bezalel Smotrich-Religious Zionism party
The Iranian regime has an orderly plan for the conventional destruction of the State of Israel.
Israel’s response should be to strive to overthrow the Islamic Republic and, concurrently, neutralize all of its proxy forces in the region. The response should be pursued on both political and military fronts.
Israel must first destroy Hamas in a way that it cannot stand up and be a threat to Israel for a long time.
Additionally, incapacitate Hezbollah for at least a few years, so that it would not be a threat to Israel within Iran’s broader regional ambitions.”
Avigdor Lieberman- Israel Beytenu party
Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians is just one front in the clash of civilizations. The Iranian problem is another part of the collision of the free world and extreme Islam.
In order to stop the Iranian nuclear program, which is already in the weapons stages, we must use all the means at our disposal.
Iran is “planning a Holocaust for us in the next two years. It should be clear that at this stage, it is not possible to prevent nuclear weapons from Iran by conventional means.
Ben Gvir. Otzma Yehudit
“Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, characterized Israel’s punitive actions against Iran for their attacks against Israel in April and October as a “too feeble opening blow.” He said, “We have a historic duty to remove the Iranian threat to destroy Israel.”
Naftali Bennet. Former Israel Prime Minister
They have no business in our region, 1,000 km. from home. I don’t want to see Iran in Syria or on any border of ours.
Iran is the epicenter of the security problems in the Middle East, and certainly for Israel. For decades, the Iranian octopus, with its head in Tehran, has been wrapping Israel with its tentacles, whether it’s Hezbollah in the north, Islamic Jihad, and to some extent, Hamas in Gaza, the militias on the border with Syria. They are striking us.
For the past three decades, Iran has spread its carnage and destruction around the Middle East, country after country: Lebanon. Iraq. Syria. Yemen. And Gaza. What do all these places have in common? They are all falling apart. Their citizens – hungry and suffering. Their economies – collapsing. Like the Midas touch, Iran’s regime has the “Mullah touch.” Every place Iran touches – fails.
Iran is much weaker and much more vulnerable than it seems.
Its economy is sinking; its regime is rotten and divorced from the younger generation. Its corrupt government fails to even bring water to large parts of the country.
Israel’s most potent weapon against Iran’s plans is Israel’s strong, flourishing economy, enabling it to outspend Iran on military technology. Israel will ultimately bankrupt the regime into submission, just as President Ronald Reagan did to the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
We made a major investment of billions in equipping the military with different tools. We made other investments as well that are relevant so that we only rely on ourselves
Before Israel’s October retaliatory actions, Bennett urged the government “to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.”
Israel’s heartbeat lies in the realm of governance and society, where the fires of debate and discord shape the destiny of the Jewish people.
From statecraft’s grandeur to everyday life’s intricacies, politics permeates every facet of any country’s existence.
Politics in Israel is not merely a game of power; conflicts challenge it, and differences enrich it.
It is the arena where ideas clash, interests converge and alliances form. Every decision made is a manifestation of values, a reflection of priorities.
Within this tumult lies the opportunity for unity and the Jewish promise
