Newspaper Article

DAN ROTHSTEIN; SOCIAL DIVISIONS THAT OVERSHADOW MONDAY'S ISRAELI VOTE

Rothstein, Dan

1984

Overview

Discussion of the Israeli elections next Monday has revived the generalization that the major cleavage in Israeli society is between \"hawkish Orientals\" (North Africans and Middle Easterners) and \"dovish Ashkenazis\" (Europeans). Because Orientals have supported the more hawkish Likud Party and the bulk of support for the Labor Party comes from Ashkenazis that analysis at first glance appears accurate. Emotional and sometimes violent confrontations sparked by foreign policy debates often pit Orientals against Ashkenazis, and this contributes to the general view of the division. Certainly, the Likud mismanagement of the economy, exacerbated by the expense of the war in Lebanon, leaves it vulnerable to attack in this campaign. However, the suspicion of many Orientals that a return to a Labor- ruled country would only distance them from power counters the appeal of a Labor economic alternative to the Likud. Young Oriental leaders who followed [David Levy]'s example and joined the Likud have enjoyed some degree of power in the last few years, and neither they nor their constituents will easily relinquish that in exchange for Labor's promise of a return to the good old days. Given that the cleavage between Ashkenazi backers of Labor and Oriental supporters of Likud runs deeper than the hawkish-dovish divide, the tension has been a strong undercurrent throughout the campaign. Each party is attempting to mobilize support based on fear and distrust of the other, to apportion blame for either perceived historical grievances or for current disastrous policies. In this setting, with so many social tensions rooted in a history of class, ethnic and political conflict, shopworn generalization about Oriental hawks and Ashkenazi doves should be shelved, or at least used with utmost caution.

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