The 2013 elections took place less than two years after the overwhelming wave of social protests of summer 2011. At first, the election campaign did not raise much public interest, but the emergence of new players and young political forces energized the political race. Polls conducted throughout the campaign greatly deviated from the final results, which eventually enabled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a cabinet again, despite a loss of 11 seats for his list. This book describes and analyses a variety of political and sociological developments in Israel both before and after the elections. These include the nature of the campaign, the developments in the National Camp, among religious Zionists, the ultra-Orthodox parties, and the Russian vote. Furthermore, it assesses the impact of media, including new media. The variety of subjects makes the book suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in Middle-Eastern, Israeli, and Jewish studies, as well as political science and liberal arts in general. Israel at the Polls has been updated and published regularly for thirty-five years, providing readers with up-to-date analysis and continuity of scholarship. This book offers a long-term assessment of Israeli politics. This book was published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

The 2013 elections took place less than two years after the overwhelming wave of social protests of summer 2011. At first, the election campaign did not raise much public interest, but the emergence of new players and young political forces energized the political race. Polls conducted throughout the campaign greatly deviated from the final results, which eventually enabled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a cabinet again, despite a loss of 11 seats for his list. This book describes and analyses a variety of political and sociological developments in Israel both before and after the elections. These include the nature of the campaign, the developments in the National Camp, among religious Zionists, the ultra-Orthodox parties, and the Russian vote. Furthermore, it assesses the impact of media, including new media. The variety of subjects makes the book suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in Middle-Eastern, Israeli, and Jewish studies, as well as political science and liberal arts in general. Israel at the Polls has been updated and published regularly for thirty-five years, providing readers with up-to-date analysis and continuity of scholarship. This book offers a long-term assessment of Israeli politics. This book was published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

The elections for Israel's nineteenth Knesset were held on January 22, 2013. This volume offers an in-depth analysis of Israel's 2013 elections from various perspectives. It presents an up-to-date picture of the complexity of Israeli democracy, and its challenges, achievements, and failures. The chapters in this collection shed light on different facets of Israeli democracy. Yaron Ezrahi provides a sceptical perspective on prospects for democracy. Gayil Talshir explains the party system's slowness to respond to citizen demands and to social movements. Michal Shamir and Keren Weinshall-Margel explore the politics of the right to be elected to the Knesset. Nir Atmor and Chen Friedberg highlight the decline in participation in Knesset elections in the Periphery versus the Center. Assaf Shapira and Gideon Rahat reveal the complexity of inter-party democracy. Dganit Ofek analyses the stability of government coalitions. Gal Levy examines Mizrahi Jews and the Shas Party. Mtanes Shihadeh discusses the voting patterns of Israeli Arabs. Asher Cohen focuses on religious Zionism and the success of the renewed Jewish Home Party. Michal Shamir and Einat Gedalya-Lavy document a gender gap in voting. Elections in Israel 2013 analyses the give-and-take between the public and its leaders that is at the heart of elections. In doing so, it illuminates the role of elections in providing representation for different groups in Israeli society and in giving voice to their political choices.

Less than two years after winning the 2013 elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to dissolve his government, paving the way for general elections. While the initial impression was that the upcoming elections were "pointless" and "unnecessary", the campaign gradually turned into a passionate and dramatic political competition, which reflected – and reenergized – the ideological, social, ethnic and cultural divides of Israeli society. This book describes and analyses a great variety of political, sociological and cultural dimensions of the 2015 elections for the 20th Knesset. Covering issues such as voters’ behaviour, coalition formation, figures of leadership, political identities, political communication and persuasion, this rich collection of essays offers a unique and comprehensive perspective on Israeli political culture in general, and on the Israeli society in the midst of the 2015 elections in particular. It also offers theoretical insight to anyone interested in parliamentary politics and party systems in general. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Israel Affairs.

The elections for Israel's nineteenth Knesset were held on January 22, 2013. This volume offers an in-depth analysis of Israel's 2013 elections from various perspectives. It presents an up-to-date picture of the complexity of Israeli democracy, and its challenges, achievements, and failures. The chapters in this collection shed light on different facets of Israeli democracy. Yaron Ezrahi provides a sceptical perspective on prospects for democracy. Gayil Talshir explains the party system's slowness to respond to citizen demands and to social movements. Michal Shamir and Keren Weinshall-Margel explore the politics of the right to be elected to the Knesset. Nir Atmor and Chen Friedberg highlight the decline in participation in Knesset elections in the Periphery versus the Center. Assaf Shapira and Gideon Rahat reveal the complexity of inter-party democracy. Dganit Ofek analyses the stability of government coalitions. Gal Levy examines Mizrahi Jews and the Shas Party. Mtanes Shihadeh discusses the voting patterns of Israeli Arabs. Asher Cohen focuses on religious Zionism and the success of the renewed Jewish Home Party. Michal Shamir and Einat Gedalya-Lavy document a gender gap in voting. Elections in Israel 2013 analyses the give-and-take between the public and its leaders that is at the heart of elections. In doing so, it illuminates the role of elections in providing representation for different groups in Israeli society and in giving voice to their political choices.

Less than two years after winning the 2013 elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to dissolve his government, paving the way for general elections. While the initial impression was that the upcoming elections were "pointless" and "unnecessary", the campaign gradually turned into a passionate and dramatic political competition, which reflected – and reenergized – the ideological, social, ethnic and cultural divides of Israeli society. This book describes and analyses a great variety of political, sociological and cultural dimensions of the 2015 elections for the 20th Knesset. Covering issues such as voters’ behaviour, coalition formation, figures of leadership, political identities, political communication and persuasion, this rich collection of essays offers a unique and comprehensive perspective on Israeli political culture in general, and on the Israeli society in the midst of the 2015 elections in particular. It also offers theoretical insight to anyone interested in parliamentary politics and party systems in general. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Israel Affairs.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE ECONOMIST Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award An authoritative and deeply personal narrative history of the State of Israel, by one of the most influential journalists writing about the Middle East today Not since Thomas L. Friedman’s groundbreaking From Beirut to Jerusalem has a book captured the essence and the beating heart of the Middle East as keenly and dynamically as My Promised Land. Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. Ari Shavit draws on interviews, historical documents, private diaries, and letters, as well as his own family’s story, illuminating the pivotal moments of the Zionist century to tell a riveting narrative that is larger than the sum of its parts: both personal and national, both deeply human and of profound historical dimension. We meet Shavit’s great-grandfather, a British Zionist who in 1897 visited the Holy Land on a Thomas Cook tour and understood that it was the way of the future for his people; the idealist young farmer who bought land from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s to grow the Jaffa oranges that would create Palestine’s booming economy; the visionary youth group leader who, in the 1940s, transformed Masada from the neglected ruins of an extremist sect into a powerful symbol for Zionism; the Palestinian who as a young man in 1948 was driven with his family from his home during the expulsion from Lydda; the immigrant orphans of Europe’s Holocaust, who took on menial work and focused on raising their children to become the leaders of the new state; the pragmatic engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel’s nuclear program in the 1960s, in the only interview he ever gave; the zealous religious Zionists who started the settler movement in the 1970s; the dot-com entrepreneurs and young men and women behind Tel-Aviv’s booming club scene; and today’s architects of Israel’s foreign policy with Iran, whose nuclear threat looms ominously over the tiny country. As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can Israel survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape. Praise for My Promised Land “This book will sweep you up in its narrative force and not let go of you until it is done. [Shavit’s] accomplishment is so unlikely, so total . . . that it makes you believe anything is possible, even, God help us, peace in the Middle East.”—Simon Schama, Financial Times “[A] must-read book.”—Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times “Important and powerful . . . the least tendentious book about Israel I have ever read.”—Leon Wieseltier, The New York Times Book Review “Spellbinding . . . Shavit’s prophetic voice carries lessons that all sides need to hear.”—The Economist “One of the most nuanced and challenging books written on Israel in years.”—The Wall Street Journal