The politics of Israel is dominated by
Zionist parties. They traditionally fall
into three camps, the first two being
the largest: Labor Zionism, Revisionist
Zionism and Religious Zionism. There are
also several non-Zionist Orthodox
religious parties, non-Zionist left-wing
groups, as well as non-Zionist and
anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties.
Political conditions 
Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel
from 1969 to 1974, once joked that "in
Israel, there are 3 million prime
ministers". The particular version of
proportional representation used, in
which the whole country is a single
constituency, encourages the formation
of a large number of political parties,
many with very specialized platforms,
and often advocating the tenets of
particular interest-groups. The
prevalent balance between the largest
parties means that the smaller parties
can have strong influence
disproportionate to their size. Due to
their ability to act as tie breakers,
they often use this status to block
legislation or promote their own agenda,
even contrary to the manifesto of the
larger party in office.
From the founding of Israel in 1948
until the election of May 1977, Israel
was ruled by successive coalition
governments led by the Labor Alignment.
From 1967 to 1970, a national unity
government included all of Israel's
parties except for the two factions of
the Communist Party of Israel. After the
1977 election, the Revisionist Zionist
Likud bloc came to power, forming a
coalition with the National Religious
Party, Agudat Israel, and with others.
The 2013 Freedom in the World annual
survey and report by U.S.-based Freedom
House, which attempts to measure the
degree of democracy and political
freedom in every nation, ranked Israel
as the Middle East and North Africa’s
only free country.
Prime Ministers and governments since
1996 
= Netanyahu =
In those elections – the first direct
election of a prime minister in Israeli
history – Likud leader Benjamin
Netanyahu won by a narrow margin, having
sharply criticized the government's
peace policies for failing to protect
Israeli security. Netanyahu subsequently
formed a predominantly right-wing
coalition government publicly committed
to pursuing the Oslo Accords, but with
an emphasis on security first and
reciprocity. His coalition included the
Likud party, allied with the Tzomet and
Gesher parties in a single list; three
religious parties; and two centrist
parties, The Third Way and Yisrael
BaAliyah. The latter was the first
significant party formed expressly to
represent the interests of Israel's new
Russian immigrants. The Gesher party
withdrew from the coalition in January
1998 upon the resignation of its leader,
David Levy, from the position of Foreign
Minister.
= Barak =
On 27 May 1999, Ehud Barak from One
Israel was elected Prime Minister, and
formed a coalition with the Centre
Party, the left-wing Meretz, Yisrael
BaAliyah, the religious Shas and the
National Religious Party. The coalition
was committed to continuing
negotiations; however, during the two
years of the government's existence,
most parties left the coalition, leaving
Barak with a minority government of the
Labor and the center party alone. Barak
was forced to call for early elections,
the only prime ministerial elections not
held alongside Knesset elections.
= Sharon =
On 17 February 2001, elections resulted
in a new "national unity" coalition
government, led by Ariel Sharon of the
Likud, and including the Labor Party.
This government fell when Labor pulled
out, and new elections were held 28
January 2003.
Based on the election results, Sharon
was able to form a right-wing government
consisting of the Likud, Shinui, the
National Religious Party and the
National Union. The coalition focused on
improving Israeli security through
fighting against terror, along with
combating economic depression. However,
when Sharon decided on his 2004
disengagement plan, which included
evacuation of Israeli settlements in the
Palestinian territories, the National
Union and National Religious Party
withdrew from the coalition. Sharon's
attempt to add the Haredi United Torah
Judaism to the coalition drove Shinui
out, and forced Sharon to bring the
Labor Party back into his coalition.
Since not all Likud Knesset members
supported Sharon's disengagement plan,
he still lacked a clear majority in the
Knesset. Apparently calculating that his
personal popularity was greater than
that of the party, Sharon pulled out of
the Likud on 21 November 2005 and formed
his own new Kadima party. He was joined
only days later by Shimon Peres, who
pulled out of the Labor party to join
Sharon in a bid for a new government.
This represented a cataclysmic
realignment in Israeli politics, with
the former right and left joining in a
new centrist party with strong support.
= Olmert =
On 4 January 2006 Prime Minister Sharon
suffered a massive stroke and went into
a coma, and subsequently died in 2014.
Designated Acting Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert took power, becoming interim
Prime Minister 100 days after Sharon's
incapacitation. He did not become full
Prime Minister due to elections being
held in March and a new government being
formed.
Following the March 2006 elections,
which left Kadima as the largest party
in the Knesset, Olmert became prime
minister. He included Labour, Shas and
Gil in a 67-seat coalition. In November
2006, Yisrael Beiteinu also joined the
government, but departed from the
coalition in January 2008. Faced with
internal opposition due to mounting
corruption charges, Olmert announced
that he would not seek reelection in the
next elections held on February 2009.
Tzipi Livni won the September 2008
Kadima leadership elections, but failed
to form a new coalition government.
= Netanyahu =
On 31 March 2009 the Knesset approved
the appointment of Benjamin Netanyahu as
Prime Minister, despite Kadima having
won slightly more votes than Netanyahu's
Likud. Netanyahu's government took
office the following day, 1 April 2009.
On 19 March 2013 Netanyahu was
designated Prime Minister again after
Likud Yisrael Beiteinu won the most
seats in the January elections. The new
coalition included the Yesh Atid, the
Jewish Home and Hatnuah parties, and
excluded ultra-Orthodox parties.
Netanyahu achieved reelection to the
national post on 18 March 2015, and
subsequently formed a governing
coalition with Likud at the forefront,
which included the Jewish Home, Kulanu,
Shas and United Torah Judaism.
Political parties and elections 
Compared to other countries, the number
of parties contesting the Israeli
general elections is relatively high
considering the population size. This
has resulted in a fragmented legislature
where smaller parties have
representation in the Knesset and no
party has the 60+ seat majority needed
to form a Government on its own.
This system also allows fringe parties
which hold views outside of the
mainstream political and public
consensus to have representation in the
Knesset. Examples of these are the
Haredi religious parties, parties that
represent the national religious or
limited agenda parties such as Gil,
which represented pensioners in the 2006
elections.
Other political groups 
Israeli politics are subject to unique
circumstances and often defy simple
classification in terms of the political
spectrum. Groups are sometimes
associated with the political left or
right, especially in international
circles, according to their stance on
issues important to the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
= Political right =
On the political right:
Gush Emunim, Israeli nationalists
advocating Jewish settlement of the West
Bank, and opposing evacuation of any of
these settlements.
Yesha Council, a loose formation of
local office-bearers in the Occupied
Territories which claims to represent
the interests of the Israeli settlers in
the West Bank. They have high influence
through strong organization and highly
motivated communities.
Almagor: an association of terror
victims.
Professors for a Strong Israel
= Political left =
On the political left:
Peace Now supports territorial
concessions in the West Bank and was
critical of government's policy in
withdrawing from Lebanon after the
1982-6 war and the subsequent withdrawal
from South Lebanon.
Geneva Initiative and The People's
Voice, two peace initiatives led by
prominent Israeli and Palestinian public
figures that surfaced in 2004. These
initiatives were based on unofficial
bilateral understandings between the two
sides, and offer models for a permanent
agreement.
HaHistadrut, an umbrella organization
for many labor unions in Israel. In the
past, was identified with the different
forms of the Israel Labor party;
nowadays, the chairman of the Histadrut
is Offer Eyni. The former chairman Amir
Peretz became head of the socialist One
Nation party, which eventually merged
into Labor in 2004, which Peretz led
from November 2005 to June 2007.
Several radical left-wing organizations
calling soldiers to refuse service in
the West Bank and Gaza; the best known
are Ometz LeSarev and Yesh Gvul.
Ma'avak Sotzialisti campaigns against
privatisation and the worsening
conditions faced by workers and young
people in Israel.
Left-leaning politics are traditionally
supported by Israel's academic,
cultural, and business elites, as well
as its security establishment.
= Political centre =
In the Political centre:
The political centre combines the
Israeli right's lack of confidence in
the value of negotiations with the
Palestinians and the Arab states with
the assertion of the Israeli left that
Israel should reduce the Israeli
presence in the areas of the West Bank.
As a result of that, the Political
centre supports unilateral actions such
as the Israeli West Bank barrier and
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
alongside the continuation of
militaristic actions as a means of
fighting against terrorism.
Economically, the centre is liberal and
supports Economic liberalism and has a
capitalistic approach. Until recently,
the Political centre in the Knesset was
relatively small - it never won more
than 15 seats on average and centre
parties tended to disintegrate within
less than two terms. Other centre
parties split up into factions which
joined one or both of the two major
parties, like Yachad, Telem, Independent
Liberals and the General Zionists.
Also parties which do not identify
themselves as political right or
political left are considered to be
centre parties. For example: The Greens
which focuses on environmental subjects
and up until today has not been able to
enter the Knesset.
= Interest groups =
The agriculture lobby, which seek to
receive subsidies and tax relief on
water.
The lobby for promoting the status of
women, a feminist group which
co-operates with the Knesset.
The lobby for the release of Jonathan
Pollard, an American who spied on his
own government and leaked national
secrets to Israel
Or Yarok: an organization devoted to
reducing road accidents in Israel
through education, enforcement,
improvement of infrastructure and the
establishment of a national task force
to research the problem and formulate a
long-term plan to reduce car accidents.
= Others =
Notable rabbinic figures have
considerable influence on several
Israeli parties and politicians, notably
Shas and United Torah Judaism.
Edah HaChareidis, anti-zionist charedi
organisation, that mostly demonstrates
against secularization, mostly in
Jerusalem
The Monitor Committee of Israeli Arabs:
an Arab group, claiming to represent the
interests of the Israeli Arab minority
in Israel, tend to be separatists and
hence perceived as hostile by the Jewish
majority and have little influence in
politics.
Political issues 
Major issues in Israeli political life
include:
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
Arab-Israeli conflict
The relationships between Jewish
religious movements
The nature of the state of Israel;
The Economy, and social issues.
See also 
System of Government of Israel
References 
^ Latitude: A Libel Law and a Balancing
Act, New York Times, 1 December 2011
^ US watchdog: Israel is Mideast’s only
'free' state. Jpost. January 2013
^ "Ariel Sharon, former Israeli Prime
Minister, dead at 85". CNN. Retrieved 2
August 2014. 
^ AP Analysis: In Fractured Israel, All
Electoral Bets Are Off
^ Israeli Challenger Herzog a Determined
Underdog
