Politics Today: Israel, Europe, and the United States

• Author: Amos N. Guiora
• Pages: 1-44

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Politics Today:

Israel,Europe, and

the United States

Amos N. Guiora

We begin with Israel.

A Brief Political History

The “march of the Right” is a more apt phrase than is “right-

ward turn.”

The turn has been made. The path ahead, as the lines are

written, is straight and fast. It is akin to traveling on a high-

way; this is not a two-lane country road with stop signs and

travelers slowing down for bumps in the road. To best under-

stand this, it is necessary to engage in a brief historical dis-

cussion to provide the context of contemporary politics and

society.

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Populist and Islamist Challenges for International Law

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For careful observers of Israel—whether Israeli themselves

or outsiders—one of the most profound realities is a shift

over the years. Israel has moved from a liberal-secular state,

albeit with religious background and influence, to a society

that has become less tolerant, less secular, and less liberal. To

ascribe this shift to never-ending security threats—without

diminishing their potential severity—is “too easy.” That is not

to underestimate various threats Israel faces; it is, however, to

suggest that external threats—regardless of their severity—do

not satisfactorily or sufficiently explain the shift.

A casual glance at the daily news confirms the threats

Israelis living in the southern and northern parts of the coun-

try are facing. The same can be said—devoid of one’s political

outlook—of Israelis who live in the West Bank. However, in

examining the rightward shift, it is important to avoid the easy

“hat hanging” and finger pointing at the security situation.1

In many ways, the security situation was more dire in Isra-

el’s early years: while the state was in the process of building

(“where the desert blooms”), the constant threat of war with

Syria, Egypt, and Jordan was a reality. The 1967 Six-Day War,2

the 1969–70 War of Attrition,3 and 1973 Yom Kippur War4

are its manifestations.5 And yet, the Left—and its liberal val-

ues—held the course during those years. That is, the “found-

ing generation” and its values and ethos held the course in

spite of significant external challenges.

As we shall come to see, the situation has dramatically

changed over the past decades. According to current public

1. Ma’tsav (“situation” in H ebrew) is a ubiquitous term use d to describe the

securit y situations, dilemma s, and tensions.

2. https: //www.bbc.com /news/world-midd le-east-399604 61.

3. ht tps ://w ww.y netn ews. com /ar ticl es/ 0,73 40, L-3611617, 00.h tml .

4. https://w ww.history.com/topics /yom-kippur-war.

5. Additional wars and con flicts include the Firs t Lebanon War (SHELEG), the

Second Leba non War, the First Intifada, an d the Second Intifada.

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Politics Today: Israel,Europe, and the United States 3

opinion polls, Meretz (the Left party) would have 6 (out of

120) seats in the next parliament; the Center-Left party (an

amalgam of Labor and Kadima) would have 13–17 seats.

While polls fluctuate and are not always an accurate assess-

ment of a future election, the electoral power of the Left has

stumbled significantly and dramatically. Election after election

convincingly demonstrates that.

The questions of what happened, when did the shift occur,

and what are its causes—from Left to Right, from tolerance

to intolerance, from secularism to increasing religiosity—have

been oft-discussed. The “why” is an issue we shall explore; as

for “when,” this shift was initially felt in the 1977 national

elections, when the right wing came to power for the first

time. While inflation and reaction to the 1973 Yom Kippur

War are oftentimes cited as the primary reasons, the resent-

ment and marginalization felt by the lower-middle class, par-

ticularly Sephardic Jewish communities, are powerful themes

in explaining the dramatic shift among the electorate.

Israel’s Zionist roots are socialist-democratic; those who

made Aliyah between 1880 and 1920,6 primarily from eastern

and central Europe, saw themselves as secular, liberal Euro-

peans seeking to escape anti-Semitism, intent on building a

Jewish state, not wedded to Jewish orthodoxy but tolerant

of religious traditions and values. In the 1950s, the majority

of new immigrants came from Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Libya,

Iran, and Yemen.7

The integration of the two—Ashkenazi and Sephardic

Jews—has been one of the most vexing, controversial,

6. The term means “going up”; it references J ews who move from the Diaspora

to the Holy Land.

7. The complicated relat ionship between A shkenazi Jews (f rom Europe) and

Sephardic Je ws (from the Middle E ast and North Af rica) is not address ed in this

book.

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