It's not about left versus right - it's about religious freedom
Will there be a "Mahapach" [upheaval]?
Since 1977, when the Right first won the Israeli elections, and the Israeli "Mr. TV" Haim Yavin, who has led the newscast since 1968, opened the election broadcast with the words: "There's a mahapach (upheaval)!" there haven’t been many elections that had the potential of producing another “upheaval”.
Uri Regev 08/09/2019 15:49
Tags: 2019 elections · Avigdor Lieberman · Benny Gantz · Yair Lapid · Blue and White · Yisrael Beiteinu
Benny Gantz (left), Yair Lapid (right), source: Wikipedia
This time may be different, and a sense of upheaval is felt in the air. It’s not a potential upheaval from right-to-left, but rather a potential reversal of the religious “status quo”, which is a laundered concept that means religious coercion, a broad violation of the right to family, the exclusion of women, the exclusion of the non-Orthodox streams, blue laws, the Monopoly of Orthodox Chief Rabbinate, draft dodging by yeshiva students, the non-participation of ultra-Orthodox men in the labor market and their dependence on public coffers, a monopoly on kashrut and conversion, huge government handouts for Orthodox religious institutions and proselytizing organizations, and on and on.
The reasons for why this time may turn out to be special are varied. It should be emphasized first and foremost that this is entirely according to the will of a large majority of Israelis, as shown in surveys conducted by Hiddush and other organizations (like the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University). This is the clear conclusion to be drawn from our recent survey, published in this newsletter. However, this also has to do with the fact that in the current political reality, wherein the majority of the public identifies itself as being to the right of center, the main competition is not between right and left [despite the rhetoric that Likud uses against its rival parties, including Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, as if they are all left-wing or will lead to a left-wing government], but rather between right and center. The main representative of the center is the new Blue & White party, many of whose leaders and members are to the right of center.
Lieberman became the “kingmaker” in the April elections, and all of the surveys conducted since then indicate that he will have even more “kingmaker” clout in the elections this month. His Yisrael Beiteinu party created the opportunity for an “upheaval”.
Given this, Lieberman became the “kingmaker” in the April elections, and all of the surveys conducted since then indicate that he will have even more “kingmaker” clout in the elections this month. His Yisrael Beiteinu party created the opportunity for an “upheaval”, for neither the right-wing bloc nor the left-center bloc can form a majority coalition without it. Lieberman’s new campaign theme is resistance to Israel become a “Halakhic State”. His party has made a variety of demands straight from the agenda of religious freedom and burden equality, repeatedly announcing that it will join only a broad national civil coalition, based upon Likud [Without Netanyahu], Blue & white, and Yisrael Beiteinu; without the ultra-Orthodox parties and without "messianic" politicians [i.e. Zionist ultra-Orthodox, such as Smotrich and Peretz].
And now we’re closer than ever before this hoped for upheaval, for the Blue & White party changed its stance on this issue just this week. Whereas before, Blue & White chairman Benny Gantz had deliberately attempted to leave the door open to partnering with the ultra-Orthodox parties, this week he began to publicly speak about his intention to form a secular coalition with the Likud - without the ultra-Orthodox parties. This, as we have seen in a recent survey, has already indicated an increase in support for this party compared to previous polls.
In mid-September we will know if we have an “upheaval”, but we can say right now that we are closer than we have been for many years.