politics

Ashkenazi (Western) Jews had, for decades, dominated all aspects of power in Israel. This dominance makes sense: Zionism was essentially a Western ideology, and all elements of the state — military (Haganah), parliamentary (Knesset), colonial (Jewish Agency) and economic (Histadrut) — were largely composed of Western European Jews.

Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, those Jews of Arab Middle Eastern backgrounds, arrived in Israel mostly after its establishment on the ruins of historic Palestine. By then, the Ashkenazis had already established their dominance, controlling Israeli political and economic institutions, speaking the predominant languages and making major decisions.

Israel has either managed or, more accurately, manufactured external crises to cope with internal divisions.

Netanyahu’s 1996 coalition marked the beginning of his rise as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and the start of coalition-building with Sephardic and Mizrahi alliances. To maintain that newfound power, the political core of Likud had to change, as Sephardic and Mizrahi representation increased exponentially within Israel’s now dominant party.

For Netanyahu and his supporters, a compromise is not possible because it would only signal the return of the balancing act that started in the early 1980s. For the Ashkenazi power base, submission would mean the end of Israel as envisioned by David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann and others; essentially, the end of Zionism itself.