From the Soviet Union to Israel: How the Post-Soviet Union Aliyah of the 1990s Shaped Israeli Polity (original) (raw)

Russian-Jewish political experience in Israel: patterns, elites and movements

Mass Soviet Jewish emigration has turned Israel into the largest centre of Russian-speaking Jewry in the world, and became a critical factor in the local political landscape. This group managed to change the previous right–left balance and thus became a desirable target for any candidate seeking to head the government as well as the majority of nationwide parties. ‘Russian’ immigrants themselves very soon became split over the general issues of Israeli politics (ideological, civic, ethnic and class controversies), that in fact indicted their integration into the local society. Finally, since the late 1990s FSU immigrants are almost equally divided between mainstream and ommunity-centred parties, leaning towards movements that combine both ectarian and nationwide agendas.

The political transformation of the Israeli 'Russian' street in the 2013 elections

The Great Aliya from the USSR and the post-Soviet states began a quarter of a century ago, bringing to Israel about 1.1 million Russian-speaking Jews and their family members. This population corresponds to approximately 19 Knesset seats, and is thus a crucial factor in Israeli electoral politics. From the late 1990-s this community was almost equally divided in its sympathy between nationwide mainstream parties and Russian sectarian immigrant parties. However, if previously there were either purely sectarian or nationwide parties, in the past decade the majority of Russian Israelis prefer new types of political representation: either a ‘Russian party with an Israeli accent’ (mainly Israel Beiteinu) or an all-Israeli party with some Russian accent (i.e. Likud). Nevertheless, despite the similarities in the ideological orientations and socioeconomic views, the Russian-speaking supporters of both political parties represent two distinct political cultures among the Israeli community of former Soviet Union olim and their children. This may explain why the joint list of Likud–Israel Beiteinu during the 2013 Knesset elections experienced substantial losses of each party’s traditional ‘Russian’ (as well as general) voters. This article argues that in the coming years, the Russian community’s politics in Israel will continue to search for an optimal model of combination of a party’s ethnic base with a mainstream platform, and which constitute an exemplary model and inspiration of political participation for other ethnic or cultural identity oriented groups, such as English-, French and Amharic-speaking immigrants, and for the ‘new haredim’.