1981 Israeli legislative election

Background

Prior to the elections, Menachem Begin's government faced instability due to internal conflict amongst coalition partners and international pressures, as well as issues with corruption, and failure to pass legislation. Discontent with the government was growing, and 40% of people agreed that "the major problems facing the state and the entire political system must be changed and a strong government of leaders and independent of parties should take control".

Parliament factions

Main article: List of political parties in Israel

The table below lists the parliamentary factions at the end of the 9th Knesset.

Electoral system

The 120 seats in the Knesset were elected by closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. This led to numerous parties winning seats and multi-party government coalitions.

Campaign

Since 1965 parties had begun abandoning attempts to frame moral issues in favor of spreading wider nets to catch a bigger range of voters. Rather than focusing on controversial issues that divided them, parties took to forming clusters that resorted to "emotive catchwords" and the lowest common denominator. The party clusters had set aside fundamental ideals in order to work together, which meant that infighting amongst the coalitions was inevitable.

Menachem Begin, Likud's most popular candidate, served as a strong factor for the party's resurgence. 41% of the adult Jews responded in favor of seeing Begin as prime minister, with 49% saying Begin would better be able to deal with the country's problems. The Alignment, whose announcement of potential major ministerial appointments failed to include Yitzhak Rabin, left the impression of a power-hungry group of politicians, with animosity between party leaders Shimon Peres and Rabin.

Public perception of the parties became instrumental in the elections; throughout the campaign the Alignment was seen and painted as the establishment party, considered by 48% of Israeli citizens surveyed to be more old-fashioned, despite its opposition to the government for the four years prior. The Alignment was also seen as self-interested by rather than interested in the good of the people, as well as corrupt. Likud, meanwhile, was seen as slightly stronger (50% as compared with the Alignment's 44%), more honest (57%), and more concerned with the fate of the citizens than that of the party (45%). Likud was able to benefit from having only been created 8 years prior, giving it an image of newness and innocence.

Ethnic tensions

The 1981 elections also saw a rise in the use of ethnic ideas within the political discourse. While Likud and the Alignment were both led by Ashkenazi politicians, the Alignment was considered the party of the Ashkenazi Jews, with the Sephardic vote lost to Likud. The likelihood of Sephardim voting for Likud and Ashkenazim voting for the Alignment was more pronounced than ever before. However, Likud enjoyed the advantage of still being able to appeal to a significant number of Ashkenazi voters, while also maintaining their Sephardi popularity; in contrast, the Alignment was seen as even less Sephardi than in previous years.

Ethnicity was a key theme in Begin's . He praised pre-state militants from Middle Eastern backgrounds, including one who played a role in the King David Hotel bombing. The most famous line: "They fastened the grenade to their hearts, and they pulled the pin. An Ashkenazi Jew? An Iraqi Jew? They were Jews! Brothers! Warriors!" referred to two of the Olei Hagardom who killed themselves in a Jerusalem prison in 1947.

Conduct

Police noted before election day that "there hasn't been an election campaign in Israel as violent as the present one". A reason for the violence may have been that this was the first elections in which the public believed both sides had a chance of winning, causing unrest and agitation.

Party slogans

Results

Scholars attribute the Likud's comeback, from its lowest point six months prior to the 1981 legislative election, to five main factors: incumbency, candidates, images, campaigns, violence, and ethnicity. Likud's role as the ruling party enabled the party to use its incumbency advantage to increase popularity with policy implementation. The party implemented tax programs that lowered prices for consumers, subsidized oil products at a higher rate than ever before, and used foreign policy that made the Alignment seem unpatriotic if they argued against the moves.

Aftermath

Menachim Begin (of the Likud) became Prime Minister and in August 1981 included the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, the Movement for the Heritage of Israel (Tami) and Tehiya in his coalition to form the nineteenth government. After Begin resigned for health reasons, Yitzhak Shamir formed the twentieth government in October 1983, with the same coalition parties.

During the Knesset term, two MKs defected from Likud to the Alignment. Haim Drukman left the National Religious Party and sat as an independent MK, whilst two other MKs left the National Religious Party and formed Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre before returning two weeks later. Telem split into Ometz and the Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism, whilst Ratz joined the Alignment but then broke away again.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

• {{cite web| year = 1981 | last1 = Begin | first1 = Menachem | author1-link = Menachem Begin | trans-title = Election speech at Malki Yisrael Square (known as the Tchachachim speech) | script-title = he: נאום בחירות בכיכר מלכי ישראל (מוכר כנאום הצ'חצ'חים) | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210918012833/https://db.begincenter.org.il/article/%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%A8-%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A8-%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%95/ | archive-date = 2021-09-18 | quote = המפקד הגדול במחוזות היה תימני; עוזי היה ספרדי; גידי, שעשה את הפעולה ההיסטורית של מלון המלך דויד, היה ספרדי; הממונה על כל האסירים בלטרון היה תימני - וכל הבחורים שלנו עמדו דום לפניו. איזו בעיה? אין לנו. כולנו יהודים. כולנו אחים. כולנו לוחמים … יש ביניהם עולי גרדום, אשר עד הרגע האחרון לחייהם שרו את שיר ״התקווה״ והפליאו עולם ומלואו בגבורתם המופתית. והם הלכו לבתי־הסוהר, למחנות ריכוז, הם נלחמו ולא נשברו, הם זעקו בפני השופטים הבריטים את המילים ״אנחנו לא מכירים בלל בשלטונכם - עליכם להסתלק מכאן, מארץ־ישראל״. פיינשטיין היה ממוצא אירופאי, איך קוראים לזה, אשכנזי; משה ברזני היה ספרדי מעירק. בלילה לאחר שנידונו למוות, והיו צריכים בבוקר־בבוקר להוריד אותם מן התלייה, והרב היה איש זקן, הוא אמד שיבוא להוריד אותם, ולא רצו לפגוע ברב, הם לקחו ללבותיהם רימון יד, לחצו. אשכנזים? עירקים? יהודים. אחים. לוחמים.

References

1. Silver, Eric. (1981-06-30). "Labour leads on eve of Israeli poll". The Guardian.
2. "Factional and Government Make-Up of the Tenth Knesset".
3. Arian, Asher. (1983). "The Elections in Israel, 1981". Ramot Publishing Co.
4. Hasin, E. (1981). Survey conducted by M. Zemach. January 1981, quoted in "The Israeli Democracy: The Beginning of the End?" ''Monition'' 30:73-75.
5. "9th Knesset".
6. Mendilow, Jonathan. (1983). "Party Clustering in Multi-Party Systems: The Example of Israel (1965-1981)". American Journal of Political Science XXVII.
7. Survey by Dahaf Research Institute, June 1981, N=1237
8. Arian, Asher. (April 1981). "Israeli Election Study, 1981". Israel Institute of Applied Social Research.
9. (June 1986). "Political Factionalism: The Case of Ethnic Lists in Israel". [[The Western Political Quarterly]].
10. (1982). "The ethnic vote in Israel's 1981 elections". Electoral Studies.
11. (29 June 2018). "In Menachem Begin's Rise, Lessons for the #Resistance to Trump". [[Tablet Magazine]].
12. Elad Nachshon. link. (11 November 2022)
13. Salpeter, Eliahu. "A Scary Face in the Mirror." ''Haaretz,'' 19 June 1981, p.14. {{verify source. (May 2025)
14. Lehman-Wilzig, Sam. (1983). "Thunder Before The Storm: Pre-Election Agitation And Post-Election Turmoil". The Elections in Israel, 1983.
15. "סיסמאות בפוליטיקה הישראלית".
16. (1981). "Courage in war, Courage for peace: Sheli".
17. Arian, Asher. (1983). "The Elections in Israel, 1981". Ramot Publishing Co..