Government and Politics

Israel entered a period of political instability when its governing coalition fell apart in December 2018 over the issue of Haredi military service. The articles, activities and other digital resources below provide insights into how and why Israel’s Knesset elections in April and September 2019 failed to produce a new government, leading to a third election within a year on March 2, 2020. The urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic helped break the political logjam with a unity government featuring a rotation agreement for prime minister between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, but that government failed to survive into 2021. For the fourth time in less than two years, Israelis are electing a new Knesset on March 23, 2021.

Israel’s third round of elections last week seemed inconclusive at first, but the deadlock may now be broken. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did better this time than in September’s round two, but his gains were insufficient to form a new government. Potential kingmaker Avigdor Liberman jettisoned his previous idea of getting the two top parties to join forces; instead, personal antipathy and policy differences have led him to definitely state that he will not join any government Netanyahu leads.

Election season in Israel is traditionally a raucous affair. But unlike the lead-up to Election Day, the voting process is staid, tedious and – despite the sporadic appearance of politicians and celebrities coming to cast their votes – pretty unglamorous. No electronic polling stations. No online voting. Only paper chits, envelopes, a cardboard partition and a box in which to cast one’s ballot. ISRAEL21c presents a photographic retrospective of 7 decades of queuing, cardboard boxes and paper chits that keep Israel’s democracy going.

Has the “Deal of the Century” injected energy into Israel’s third election and perhaps provided an incentive for Arab Israelis to turn out in higher numbers than September? Election rallies for the Arab parties in Israel rarely garner much attention or excitement. But recent policy proposals engineered thousands of miles away may have re-energized a once stagnant and unreliable voting bloc. Arik Rudnitzky uses the village of Bartaa as a possible case study.

On March 2, Israelis will head back to the polls for a third time in twelve months. This previously unimaginable situation has left many asking: How did we get here? The short answer is that, perhaps in an uncharacteristically surprising fashion for politicians, everyone kept their promises. Yohanan Plesner presents the key issues to look out for in Israel’s unprecedented third election and what – if anything – will determine if a stable government will finally be formed.

The ultimate result of September’s election in Israel is still unclear. We do not yet know what type of coalition will be formed, when it will come together, or who will head it. We do know, however, that Israeli democracy had dodged a bullet. This is because, no matter who takes the reins of government or even if Israel holds a third round of elections, a radical assault on our judicial system has been halted.

In Israeli history books, the term is conjured every time the nation faces a major juncture that requires individuals and factions to transcend partisan loyalties. Judging from their behavior in the recent elections, Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz both appear to be fuzzy on the meaning of the word.

Two weeks to the elections Jewish Israelis show a strong preference for a unity government while Arab Israelis prefer a center-left wing government led by Gantz. Also over the past five months there has been a steady decline in the public’s optimism about the future of Israel’s democracy and security.