The Haredi Parties and the Rightist Camp in Israel 1948-2022: From Preference to Default

• In Event: The Israeli Right and Israeli Society: Economy, Religion, and Law

Abstract

A longtime assumption in Israeli political discourse, one highlighted by the serious and ongoing political crisis of the past five years, is that of an ostensibly natural relationship that developed between the Haredi political parties and the rightist camp, with an emphasis on the ultranationalism of the latter. But that relationship is not self-evident. On the one hand, as we shall see, an ideological, symbolic framework, and certainly a measure of prior public sentiment, can indeed be found in support of a connection between Haredi parties and parties of the right. On the other hand, the Haredi parties were not always partners in governments led by the right-wing parties. Furthermore, one Haredi party, Shas, was a partner at a key moment when the Israeli left’s political ideology reached fulfillment. In the present article, I aim to illuminate this complexity and explain the deepening political relationship between the Haredi parties and those of the right over the past decade as a shift from ideological preference to political default. The reason behind this development is not an increase in hawkish or ultranationalist sentiment among the Haredim, but rather the rise of a reactionary secular outlook within Israel’s upper middle class. In my lecture, I will offer a brief historical overview of the Haredi parties’ dynamic behavior within the Israeli political system. We will look at the various milestones in Haredi's political development and learn about the gaps between ideological preference and political interest, and between political interest and political default.

Author

• Nissim Leon ליאון, Bar-Ilan University