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The Israeli ‘Russian’ Community and Immigrants Party Politics in the 2003 Elections

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 10; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1353712042000283739

1743-9086

Vladimir Khanin,

Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. See Summary of JAFI Activities in the FSU, 2002, submitted to the BOG, Jerusalem, February 2003. 2. On the impact of the ‘Russian’ immigrant vote on Israeli election results in 1992–99 see, among other, Bernard Reich, Noah Dropkin and Meyrav Wurmser, ‘Soviet Jewish Immigration and the 1992 Israeli Knesset Elections’, Middle East Journal, Vol.47, No.3 (Summer 1993), pp.445–6; Edith Rogovin Frankel, ‘The ‘Russian’ Vote in the 1996 Israeli Elections’, East European Jewish Affairs, Vol.26, No.1 (1996); Vladimir Khanin, ‘Israeli ‘Russian’ Parties and the New Immigrant Vote, Israel Affairs, London, Vol.7, Nos.2–3 (Winter/Spring 2001), pp.101–34 and Zvi Gitelman and Ken Goldstein, ‘Hamaapekha ha-“Rusit” ba-politika ha-israelit’ (‘Russian’ Revolution in Israeli Politics), in A. Arian and M. Shamir (eds.), Ha-bhirot ba-Israel’ – 1999 (Israeli Elections 1999), Jerusalem: Israeli Democracy Institute/Hamakhon ha-Israeli le-demokratiya, 2001, pp.203–29. 3. Ha'aretz, 26 January 2001. 4. For details see Vladimir Khanin, ‘Israeli ‘Russian’ Parties’, pp.102–3. 5. See: Majid Al-Haj and Elazar Leshem, ‘Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel: Ten Years Later’, A research report, Haifa, November 2000, p.59. 6. See census of Tel Aviv-based ISPR at www.ispr.org/is6html. 7. See ‘Israel's Russian Community Divided over Putin Victory’, Newsroom, Jerusalem, 3 April 2000 and results of the ISPR Census at http://ispr.org/pub_op/page37.html). 8. Dov Kontorer, ‘Barak Rezko Teraet Sredi Vykhodtsev iz SSSR’ (Barak Sharp Fall in Popularity among Immigrants from Former Soviet Union), Vesti, 20 July 2000. 9. Lily Galili, ‘Likud Tells Immigrant Voters to Steer Clear of Small Parties’, Ha'aretz, 23 January 2003. 10. See: Vladimir Khanin, ‘Israeli “Russian” Parties’, pp.126–7. 11. Author's interview with MK Prof. Victor Brailovsky, Tel-Aviv, January 2001. 12. Author's interview with Shinui press-secretary Michael Rivkin, January 2001. 13. Shinui, 27 April 2001, p.7, and 27 March 2003, p.12. 14. Dina Siegel, The Great Immigration: Russian Jews in Israel, New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1998, p.169. 15. See Aliya for the Land of Israel Coordination Committee Bulletin, No.4 (20 January 1994), pp.2–3 (Russian). 16. Author's interview with first AFLI Chairman Ze'ev Geyzel, Tel Aviv, April 2001. 17. See ‘Report on the AFLI Activities in January–October 1994’, Jerusalem, 1994 (Hebrew). 18. See Shlomo Groman, ‘Uri Shani: “My Sovershili Massu Oshibok, Osoznali I Khotim Ikh Ispravit”’ (Uri Shani: ‘We Made a Lot of Mistakes, Realized that and Want to Improve It’), Vesti, 26 June 2000 (Russian). 19. Lily Galili, ‘For Russians, Sharon's Old; Peres, Too Foreign’, Ha'aretz, 21 December 2000. 20. Vesti, 12–13 December 2002. 21. Author's interview with AFLI Chairman Sofia Ron, Jerusalem, April 2001. 22. For the Programme and the Mission statement of the ‘Russian section’ of the Jewish Leadership bloc see Asia Entov, Manhigut Baaliya (Leadership on Rise), Ginot Shomron: Manhigut Yehudit, 2002, pp.12–24. 23. See Lily Galili, ‘Likud's Immigrant or Liberman's Likudnik?’ Ha'aretz, 10 December 2002. 24. E. Feldman, ‘Potentzial “Russkoi Ulitsy”’ (‘Russian Street’ Potential), Vesti, 12–13 December 2002. 25. Vladimir Khanin, ‘Israeli “Russian” Parties’, pp.105–6 26. Ze'ev Geyzel, Politicheskie Struktury Gosudarstva Izrail (Political Structures of the State of Israel), Moscow: IIMES, 2001, pp.154–5. 27. Author's interview with ‘Russian Mafdal’ leader Rabbi Pinchas Polonsky, Ramat-Gan, March 2003. 28. See Eran Sonberg (Ze'ev Geyzel), ‘Interesnyi Protsess Poshel!’ (Such an Interesting Process is Under Way!), Evreiskie Novosti, No.24 (48) (2 July 2003). 29. Shaul Kabakchi, ‘Shas Vylkhodit na “Russkuiu Ulitsu”’ (Shas Reaches Out to the ‘Russian street’), Izrail Segodnia (Jerusalem), 3 April 2001. 30. Author's interview with Chief Editor of Bucharskaya gazeta (Bucharic Newspaper) Alexander Razgon, August 2003. 31. Natasha Mozgovaia, ‘Mi Russia im Ahzava’ (From Russia with Disappointment), Yediot Achronot-Musaf Shabbat, 14 February 2003, pp.22–3. 32. More detailed history of the origin and consolidation of the immigrant parties in Israel presented in Vladimir Khanin, ‘The New Russian Jewish Diaspora and ‘Russian’ Party Politics in Israel’, Nationalism & Ethnic Politics, Vol.8, No.4 (December 2002), pp.37–60. 33. Authors interview with MK Dr. Yurii Shtern, Jerusalem, August 1999. 34. See Vladimir (Ze'ev) Khanin, ‘Political Institutionalization of Russian-speaking Non-Jewish Immigrants in Israel’, Position paper, the Rappaport Center for Assimilation and Jewish Continuity Studies, Ramat Gan, July 2002 (Hebrew). 35. Tribuna, 4 January 2003. 36. Asia Entov, ‘Nashi Ili Nenashi?’ (Ours or Not Ours?), Russkii zhurnal, 7 May 2003 (www.russ.ru). 37. Vesti, 23 June 1999. 38. Shimon Briman, ‘Liberman i Sharansky: Otkrytyi Dialog’ (Liberman and Sharansky: The Open Dialogue), Vesti, 31 May 2000. 39. Yury Shtern's interview to Kol Yisrael Russian Channel REKA, 7 January 2003. 40. A. Zubarev, ‘Bitva za Sionzm’ (A fight for Zionism), Izrail’ Segodnia, 1 May 2001; and Victoria Martynov, ‘Posle Boia’ (After the Battle), Vesti, 3 May 2001. 41. For more detailed explanation of the ideological and organizational infrastructure of Israeli new immigrant political parties see: Vladimir Khanin, ‘The New Russian Jewish Diaspora and “Russian” Party Politics in Israel’, pp.44–57. 42. Sofia Ron, ‘Dva raskola, Tri Partii i Zakon o Vozvrashchenii’ (Two Splits, Three Parties and the Law of Return), Vesti-2, 2 December 1999. 43. See Roman Bronfman, ‘Neparlamentsko'ye Vystupleniye’ (A Non-Parliament Proclamation), Vesti, 1 June 2000. 44. Shlomo Briman, ‘Liberman i Sharansky’. 45. Yisrael B'Aliya: Dva Goda na Politicheskoi Karte (Yisrael B'Aliya: Two Years on the Political Map), Jerusalem: Yisrael B'Aliya, 1998, pp.12–16. 46. See Yohanan Peres and Sabina Lissitsa, ‘New Immigrants and Veterans: Identity and Interrelations – Research Findings’. Paper presented at the international conference on ‘Contemporary Israel: Politics, Culture and Society’, Moscow, 8–11 September 2000. 47. See results at http://ispr.org/pub_op/page37.html. 48. Majid Al-Haj and Elazar Leshem, ‘Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel: Ten Years Later’, pp.57–9. 49. Daniel Ben Simon, ‘Christmas Presents’, Ha'aretz, 29 December 2000. 50. David Zev Harris, ‘PM Nixes Replacing Sharansky with Bronfman’, Jerusalem Post, 9 March 2000. 51. See Viktoria Martynova, ‘Ehud Barak: “Mesto Sharanskogo – v Pravitel'stve”’ (Ehud Barak: ‘The Place of Sharansky is in the Government’), Vesti, 18 May 2000; and Sofia Ron, ‘Sharon Predlagaet Sharanskomu Vtoroye Mesto’ (Sharon Suggests the Second Place to Sharansky), Vesti-2, 2 March 2000, p.2. 52. See Vladimir Khanin, ‘Israeli “Russian” Parties’, pp.126–7. 53. Igor Moldavsky, ‘Vybory – v Maye 2001-Go?’ (Elections in May 2001?), MIG News, No.4 (21 May 2000), p.14. 54. Mitzna, as the mayor of Haifa, supported the establishment in the city of the first Israel municipal Immigrant Absorption authority, headed by Bronfman, and during 1999 elections Mitzna even signed with Bronfman, then the head of Yisrael B'Aliya's electoral office, according to Israel press, a secret agreement, ordering the local Labour party branches to promote the mobilization of new immigrant votes in favour of Yisrael B'Aliya, in exchange to their support of Ehud Barak candidature (See Vesti-2, November 2002, pp.13–14). Both leaders, however, denounced this information. 55. Israel TV Channel 2 Broadcast, May 1999. 56. In 2002, over NIS150 million were spent on infrastructure and housing in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip alone, which is double what was spent in any other year in the last decade before 2001, when Sharansky took over the Ministry of Construction. Elli Wohlgelernter, ‘Yisrael B'Aliya Targets Settlers’, Jerusalem Post, 10 January 2003. 57. Sofia Ron, ‘Selling Democracy to the Americans’, Ha'aretz, 27 December 2002. 58. During the whole Israeli history there were only three ‘Anglophones’ in Knesset: an immigrant from southern Africa Abba Even; USA-born Rabbi Meir Kahana, leader of the radical Kakh party; and an immigrant from Canada, Professor Zvi Weinberg, elected to the fourteenth Knesset from the Yisrael B'Aliya. 59. Charlotte Halle, ‘Local Brits Stop Whining, Start Doing: Israel Bashing in UK Media Prods Ex-Immigrants into Action’, Ha'aretz, 21 November 2001. 60. Danielle Haas, ‘East Courts West in Israel Russian Immigrant Party Trying to Attract Anglo Voters’, The San Francisco Chronicle, 16 January 2003. 61. Eli Kazhdan, ‘Eti Blagopoluchnye “Amerikantsy”’ (These Prosperous ‘Americans’), Vesti, 27 June 2002 62. Haim Shapiro, ‘First US Immigrant to Get New Grant Arrives’, Jerusalem Post, 2 December 2002. 63. Haas, ‘East Courts West’. 64. Elli Wohlgelernter, ‘Yisrael B'Aliya Raises NIS 100,000 in Grassroots Campaign’, The Jerusalem Post, 2 January 2003. 65. S. Padrazhansky, ‘Repatrianty Predpochli A Sharona’ (Repatriates Preferred Ariel Sharon), Vesti, 8–9 February 2001. 66. E. Feldman, ‘Narod – Otdel'no, Vibori – Otdel'no’ (People and Elections Go to Different Directions), Vesti, 9 January 2003. 67. Zvi Gitelman and Ken Goldstein, ‘Hamaapekha ha-’Rusit’ ba-Politika ha-Israelit’, p.220. 68. Each poll was based on a representative sample of 750–1,100 voters, selected according to basic social and demographic categories of new immigrant population according to the Ministry of Interior data. A margin of error in any case did not exceed 2–2.5 per cent. The author is grateful to the director of the Institute, Dr. E. Feldman, for the results of these studies. 69. Leaders of ‘Russian’ parties demonstrated an understanding of political meaning of this trend in 2001, when both supported Ariel Sharon in his prime ministerial race. In the interests of campaigning the north of Israel, with its numerous cities with high concentration of aged Russian immigrants, was allocated to Israel B'aliya. On the other hand, the cities of the centre of the country, which had a higher percentage of young and middle-aged immigrants, attracted by wider job and educational opportunities, was a target of Yisrael Beiteinu propagandistic activities. See Vesti-Jerusalem, 18 January 2001. 70. See N. Sharansky, ‘Glavnaia Tzel’ – Edinstvo Naroda’ (People's Unity is the Main Aim), Vesti-Okna, 1 July 2000, p.4. 71. Kontorer, ‘Barak Rezko Teaet’. 72. See, for instance, Briman, ‘Liberman i Sharansky’. 73. Author's interview with E. Kazhdan, director-general of Yisrael B'Aliya, May 2001. 74. See results of the opinion polls of the ISPR (www.ispr.org) and Sedmoy Kanal (www.sedmoykanal.org). 75. For details see Vladimir Khanin, ‘Israeli “Russian” Parties’, pp.124–5. 76. Briman, ‘Liberman i Sharansky’. 77. See Edgar Lefkovits, ‘Immigrants Leaving Likud for Yisrael B'Aliya’, Jerusalem Post, 2 January 2003. ISPR polls of early January also showed a surprisingly growing support of the party among ‘Russian’ immigrants of 1989–991. 78. Ma'ariv, Saturday Supplement, 17 January 2003, p.13 79. M Lerner, ‘Strategia i Taktika Natsional'nykh Vyborov’ (Strategy and Tactics of National Elections), Vesti-2, 13 February 2003, p.17. 80. A curious aspect of this phenomenon was the fact that in some cities with a high concentration of new immigrants from the (former) USSR, members of local electoral committees, on opening the ballot boxes, found several hundred envelopes with two ballots (instead of one, as required) – one for Likud and one Yisrael B'Aliya. Apparently, in this way immigrants showed their wish to see Sharon as prime minister while simultaneously giving their vote for the communal party. These ballots, of course, were rejected, and some experts believe that lack of these votes was critical for Yisrael B'Aliya's not obtaining the third mandate. 81. After the integration of the two Knesset parties, Yisrael B'Aliya leader Natan Sharansky officially left his mandate, and got the position of minister for Jerusalem and Jewish Diaspora Affairs, thus leaving the seat for Marina Solodkin (Solodkina), number three in the Yisrael B'Aliya list, who since 1996 was a noted ‘address’ for thousands of immigrants, who applied to the party with their problems and complaints. 82. See Ron, ‘Sharon Predlagaet Sharanskomu Vtoroe Mesto’. 83. Al-Haj and Leshem, ‘Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel: Ten Years Later’, p.55. 84. Dov Kontorer, ‘Rezulitaty Vuborov v Knesset (The Results of the Knesset Elections), Vesti-2, 6 February 2003, p.4. 85. ‘Agreement with Aliya’ (Dogovor s Aliyoy) – a symbolic document, produced by Yisrael B'Aliya leaders shortly after the establishment of their party on the eve of the 1996 elections, which was a sort of party mission statement of proposed activities, predominantly in aliya-related social and economic themes. 86. Quoted in Ynet, 4 February 2003. 87. See Khanin, ‘The New Russian Jewish Diaspora and “Russian” Party Politics in Israel’, pp.40–41. 88. See ‘Zaiavlenie Zamestitelei Merov Gorodov, Deputatov Munitsipal'nukh Sovetov ot Partii Israel’ Ba-Aliya, Predsedatelei Gorodskikh Partiinykh Sovetov I Aktivistov Partii’, (Declaration of the Deputy Majors, Deputies of Municipal Councils on the Behalf of Yisrael B'Aliya, Chairmen of City Councils of the Party and Party Functionaries), Vesti, 13 February 2003. 89. Quoted in Lili Galili, ‘Shisha Mandatim Mikhapsim Manhig’ (Six Mandates in Search of a Leader), Ha'aretz, 28 February 2003. 90. Yakov Shaus, ‘“My Povedem Obschinu na Munitsipal'nye Vybory”: Press Konferentsia Fraktsii Yihud Haleumi’ (“We will Lead the Community in the Municipal Elections”: Press Conference of Ihud Haleumi Faction), Vesti, 13 February 2003. 91. See Mark Kotliarsky, ‘Vkhozhdenie vo Vlast’, Ili Kak Nam Dlia Nachala Obustroit’ Rishon Le-Tsion’ (Entering the Power, or How Can We First Build-up Rishon Le-Tsion), Vesti-2, 4 June 2003, p.18; Rimma Osipenko, ‘Khadera: Khotim “Russkogo” Vize-Mera’ (Khadera: We Want ‘Russian’ Vice-Mayor), Vesti-Hasharon, 19 June 2003, p.2. 92. Ya'akov Shaus, ‘Ty Za Rodinu Ili Za Ali'u’ (Are You for the Motherland or for Aliya?), Vesti, 22 May 2003. 93. Author's interview with Mark Gorin, Habehira Hademocratit director for Public Affairs, February 2003, and Sonia Vasilyeva, Avigdor Liberman's political advisor, July 2003. 94. Yisrael Beiteinu/Ihud Haleumi leader and Transport Minister Avigdor Liberman's introductory notes at meeting with Russian-speaking intellectuals, Jerusalem, July 2003. 95. Radio REKA Broadcast, 18 March 2003. 96. Kontorer, ‘Rezul'taty Vyborov v Knesset’, p.4. Additional informationNotes on contributorsVladimir KhaninVladimir (Ze'ev) Khanin lectures on Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University.