Upstart Party Challenges Israeli Jewish State

by Ferry Biedermann

The emergence of this party is likely to have far-reaching implications for relations between religion and state, and for the peace process.

The leaders of the secular party Shinui speak of ending "religious oppression" within Israel. Leaders of Shas, the largest religious party, say Shinui leaders want to "wipe out the Jewish character of the state."

After the 1999 elections, supporters of victorious Labor Party leader Ehud Barak streamed into the streets of Tel Aviv chanting slogans like "Just not with Shas." One of Barak's promises had been to curb the growing power of the religious parties.

Barak was replaced in mid-term elections two years ago because he failed to deliver on his pledge to bring peace, and because of the built-in political weakness of his coalition which included religious parties.

Security is again the main issue in the campaign now but the secular-religious divide is becoming an unexpected factor. Opinion polls consistently predict that Shinui will more than double its number of seats from six to about 15, to make it the third largest party in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.

Elections in Israel are based on proportional representation. This means each party sends members to the 120-member Knesset in proportion to the number of votes it receives.

"The main match is between Likud on the right and Labor on the left," says Shas spokesman Itzik Sudri at the party's headquarters in Jerusalem, "but on the sidelines Shinui and us are doing our warm-ups."

Sudri's football metaphors are a part of a carefully nurtured modern image for a religious party. Beneath a portrait of Shas spiritual leader rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sudri is checking the party's new website. "Until now we didn't have a website because of religious prohibitions, but rabbi Yosef says that we should use the enemy's own means to fight him."

The enemy without doubt is Shinui and its sharp-tongued leader, former journalist Tommy Lapid. A leading Shas rabbi said at public prayers recently that Lapid should be turned to cinders. Lapid's reply: "The Nazis also tried to destroy me."

Avraham Poraz, the number two in Shinui's list of candidates after Lapid, is clear about his party's aims. "We are campaigning to put an end to religious oppression," he says. "The Haredim (ultra-orthodox) don't serve in the army but they do receive generous state support," he says. "They block the introduction of civil marriage and public transport on the Sabbath. The national carrier El Al is not allowed to fly on Saturdays." Poraz also opposes state-sponsored religious schools.

These are just the issues Shas is raising from the other side, as guardian of the Jewish character of the state. "If Shinui gains influence over the government, it will be a threat to the future of the Jewish people in the state of Israel," says Nissim Dahan from Shas who is Minister of Health in the present government.

"If everybody could marry everybody else it would lead to the disappearance of the Jewish people in Israel," Dahan, dressed in typical Shas black suit, told IPS. Dahan says that Shinui wants to create "a new type of traditional Jew who is not religious, and that is impossible."

Poraz denies that his party wants to overturn the Jewish character of the state. "We want to keep the Jewish tradition, Jewish culture, including the Jewish holidays," he says. "We don't think intermarriage will cause huge problems; very few Jews and Arabs marry each other anyway."

The gap between the secular and the religious has not been in the forefront of politics over the last couple of years. "Since the outbreak of the intifada, the fight between religious and secular had been pushed to the background," says Shmuel Sandler, professor of political science at the religious Bar-Ilan University. On the other hand, the enthusiasm for the fight is not that surprising, he says.

Shinui tries to present itself as a liberal party at the political center representing the middle classes, but its only clear plank is its anti-religious theme, Sandler says. Shas on the other hand was losing votes to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud, and seized on the Shinui threat to scare the public into "coming home."

The two parties will not take votes off each other, but off the two main parties, Likud and Labor, Sandler says.

This could lead to a difficult post-election political landscape. Shinui has pledged never to join a coalition with a religious party. In contrast to Labor and the left-wing Meretz party, it has stuck to that promise. Lapid wants a "secular coalition of national unity" with Likud and Labor.

The Labor party announced this week in what most commentators regard as a desperate tactical ploy that it will not serve again under Sharon. That in effect ends Shinui's ambitions.

If these policies persist after the elections, Sharon, who seems the most likely winner, may only be able to form a narrow religious and right-wing coalition. This may have to include the ultra right-wing Herut National Unity party that wants Palestinians expelled from the West Bank.