An Injured Solidarity: Splits and Hiatuses in Israeli Society

Upon Israel’s inception in 1948 (and even before), the Israeli Labor Party was dominant in the country, and it favored the judicial branch of government.

But over the years, with massive Jewish immigration to Israel, as well as high local birth rates, the hegemony of Labor and its preferences have receded.

Huge controversies emerged between Jews and Arabs, secular and religious, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox, Right and Left, and founders and New Immigrants, giving rise to Right Wing domination, which favors control of the Legislative Branch of government. Hence there are the reforms that the present rule legislates, and that all its political adversaries oppose, thus generating extreme divisions within the different layers of the population.

(About the Author)

Raphael Israeli has taught Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A graduate of Hebrew University in history and Arabic literature, he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese and Islamic history from the University of California, Berkeley. Now retired, he has been a Fellow of the Harry Truman Research Institute at Hebrew University and the Jerusalem Center since the1970s. He is the author of more than 115 books and 100 articles.