Israeli public discourse is caught between what the Left calls the “poison machine” and what the Right calls the “poison channels.” As elections approach and every party seeks to distinguish itself, the country’s social race to the bottom is likely to accelerate. A hot – and dangerous – summer lies ahead.
The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) examines relations among the different sectors of Israeli society through its Emotional Proximity Index, which measures Israelis’ attitudes toward 10 groups. The findings show that the two least-liked groups, to put it mildly, are Arabs and haredim (ultra-Orthodox), with the latter at the very bottom.
Beyond the grave social consequences, the nationwide emotional distance from both groups has political implications.
Each is represented by sectoral parties that many other political actors effectively blacklist: so long as haredi parties defend broad exemption from military service, they are unacceptable partners for a centrist government; so long as Arab parties are not Zionist, they are consigned to the opposition in almost any conceivable coalition.
The stark result is that broad swaths of the public deem roughly one-third of Israel’s citizens illegitimate partners in a future government.
This reality is not inevitable. The coming election campaign may offer an opportunity for some social repair through daring moves that cross sectoral lines.
One emerging development suggests what may be possible: if Mansour Abbas and Yoav Segalovitz can agree on the latter leaving Yesh Atid and joining Ra’am, it would begin to challenge the current threatening image of the “Arab parties” as disloyal to the state and therefore untrustworthy.
If Segalovitz, who is known for his commitment to fighting violent crime, were then appointed national security minister after being elected on a civic platform supported mainly by Arab voters, everyone would stand to gain. The message would be even more powerful if he served in a broad government that also included right-wing parties.
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews deeply dissatisfied with haredi leadership
A similar development could take shape in haredi society. Despite the community’s celebrated unity behind its “great Torah sages,” many haredim are deeply dissatisfied with its current predicament.
Their leadership’s unrestrained rhetoric, its scandalous refusal to shoulder its fair share of the national defense burden, its resistance to employment and educational reform, and the poverty and isolation these policies perpetuate, do not reflect the free choice of thousands of haredim.
Their numbers are difficult to estimate, but it is hardly far-fetched to say that they represent at least two Knesset seats worth of haredi voters.
An organized movement of haredim seeking integration – in employment and military service – already exists. Led by Rabbi David Leibel through the Achvat Torah network, it gives expression to an authentic haredi voice – one that understands that haredi society must respond to changing realities and connect with the broader public sphere.
These haredim seek to realize the ideal of Torah im derech eretz (Torah combined with worldly engagement) without viewing this as either an imposition or a compromise. Conservative in outlook and lifestyle, they nevertheless understand that excessive conservatism breeds stagnation and that its consequences are already clearly visible in parts of haredi society.
Some haredim are plainly dissatisfied with their political representation. Although the community is growing rapidly – doubling every 20 years – its political representation has barely increased. Haredi votes are already drifting to mainstream parties, but only as individuals, quietly breaking ranks, so the message of civic partnership is lost.
A new haredi party, a concrete initiative called The Haredi Public, is already taking shape, but would be unlikely to clear the electoral threshold and would naturally seek to join an existing party. The next Knesset could therefore include one or two haredi lawmakers elected on a mainstream slate and promoting an explicitly integrationist haredi agenda.
On the surface, these would be small shifts – a handful of seats crossing the stark lines between identity groups that divide us. Their true value, however, lies in challenging the automatic labeling of the groups routinely cast as Israel’s ultimate outsiders – haredim and Arabs. If this promising trend continues, it could strengthen the common denominator of Israeli society: citizenship.
The writer is president of JPPI – the Jewish People Policy Institute – and a professor (emeritus) of law at Bar-Ilan University.