Daily Podcasts Video Research

Polarization and the Hidden Israeli Center

JL;DR SUMMARY Amidst growing political polarization in Israel, survey data shows a significant number of Israelis feel politically homeless, desiring a unity government that transcends traditional Right-Left divides. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

NetanyahuIsraeli ElectionsPolitical PolarizationPolitical HomelessnessUnity GovernmentModerationPragmatismMultiparty SystemBloc Paradigm

Places mentioned

Israel
"In an April 2024 survey conducted in collaboration with political strategist Moshe Klughaft and a leading Israeli polling service, Midgam, 70 percent of Israelis agreed with the following statement: The division in Israel is no longer between Right and Left, but between people with centrist positions and the extremists."
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv District, Israel
"one need only observe the 16 parties that exist in the Israeli Knesset today. Although each political party is identified with a tribe, some of them represent the moderate and pragmatic part of that group, whereas others represent a separatist or more ideological segment. For example, of the three Haredi parties, two have more separatist positions while the third represents voters more integrated into Israeli societyprofessionally, economically, and in the army."
Jerusalem, Israel
"Thankfully, this process has already begun. At the height of the judicial reform protests, the aptly named Jerusalem-based group HaBait HaMeshutaf (the Shared Home) was one of the only groups that brought together opponents from the Left and Right, secular and religious."
Gaza, Southern District, Israel
"Even Naftali Bennetts political defection from the Bibi bloc was seen by many right-wing voters as an act of treason rather than as the paradigmatic revolution we need. The time for that revolution is now. As the war in Gaza has been cast as a second war of independence, the new paradigm signals the birth of a new Israeli politics, a recommitment to Israels founding ethos as a Jewish and democratic state governed by principles of collaboration, representation, and ideological inclusion."
United States
"For all their differences, the American and Israeli political systems appear to be sharing a moment: heightened levels of political division, leaders facing legal woes, accelerating demographic changes, and polarizing social and traditional media."
United Kingdom
"Similar crises plague Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, among other democracies."
France
"Similar crises plague Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, among other democracies."
Italy
"Similar crises plague Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, among other democracies."
Spain
"Similar crises plague Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, among other democracies."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 48139
Cairo Source ID 29
Retrieved 2025-04-03 05:31:50 UTC
Curated 2025-04-03 08:34:30 UTC