This week the group had the unique opportunity to meet with
three members of Israel’s Parliament, or the Knesset. According to an intern who led us on a tour
of the building, Knesset in Hebrew translates to “assembly” or “to
assemble.” On Tuesday we met with MK
Daniel Ben-Simon of Israel’s Labor Party and MK Sheik Ibrahim Sarsour of
Ra’am-Ta’al, one of Israel’s Arab parties.
Additionally, we had the chance to meet with MK Dr. Einat Wilf, a former
Labor Party member who last year joined the Independence Party.
As Professor Ziv had discussed in an earlier lecture,
Israeli politics have been aligned historically along right and left
ideologies, with those on the right falling into the nationalist or “hawkish”
camp, and those on the left favoring peace or compromise with the
Palestinians. From 1948-1977, the Labor
Party ran the government; however, in 1977, the first Likud (right wing)
government came to power, and since then, with a couple of exceptions, the
right has continued to lead. Over the
last decade, a particularly interesting paradox has occurred. Despite the Labor Party’s near collapse
following the second intifada and the government’s rightward electoral shift, the
population has shifted its position leftward, moderating its views. Fewer Israelis are voting according to party,
rather they focus more on the issues or the person running for office.
Our Knesset visit reinforced this point. As MK Ben-Simon explained, the Labor Party has
shifted away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is instead focusing on
economic and social issues, ranging from the rising cost of living and
increasing wage gap amongst Israelis to the search for equality in the Jewish
population, mainly regarding the issue of the 20 percent of the ultra-orthodox
population claiming exemption from the country’s mandatory military
service. In terms of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ben-Simon believes that the conflict cannot be
resolved without the U.S. who he says has been “criminally silent” on this
issue since Obama has come to office.
MK Sheik Ibrahim Sarsour pressed upon us the importance of
his party’s dedication to mercy, graciousness and peace in the political
process. His constituents are focused on
the rights of minorities in Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how
the Arab Spring might affect the geopolitics of the Middle East.
Like MK Ben-Simon, MK Einat Wilf is focusing most of her
efforts on domestic issues – particularly education, economics and women’s
issues. Her take on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict proved quite interesting. She claims that the conflict is not about
peace or a matter of territory as is often debated, rather it is a result of
the continued rejection of the Zionist idea and the existence of a Jewish
state.
While each MK had his/her own diverging viewpoints, one
thing they all shared was a frankness and candor that is sadly missing from
American politics – there is no spin in Israel, which I think was refreshing
for our group to experience.
These visits not only provided the group with invaluable
insight into the inner-workings of the Israeli government, but also furthered
our understanding of just how diverse and complex the Israeli public and its
political challenges are – what some of us might have thought were black and
white issues are in fact varied shades of gray.
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