Articles

IDI’s inaugural Biennial Statistical Report on Religion and State was published ahead of the annual conference organized by the Religion and State Program in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society.

The current campaign finance system in Israel incentivizes existing parties and creates a closed club where its difficult for new parties to compete. How can the system be reformed?

On questions of religion and state the tensions between the centralized and decentralized approaches can be misleading and creative rethinking might provides opportunities for achieving new agreements and a more balanced reality

Is the insistence on preventing public transportation on Shabbat for those who would use it a lost cause - and should it even be a cause at all?

Disqualifying candidates and lists for the Knesset violates one of the most fundamental democratic rights, the right to vote and to be elected. Therefore, it must be done with the utmost care, judgment and objectivity. Who can reject candidates and lists for the Knesset, and on what is the criteria? IDI experts answer these questions.

The disintegration of the Joint List is arousing diametrically opposite reactions from the two big blocs of the Israeli political spectrum. How will this new political reality play out in the upcoming elections?

Democracy is not just majority rule, but ensuring that all segments of society are provided with the opportunity to take part in a free and fair political process. For Israel, this means ensuring that the Bedouin population has equal opportunity to place their vote in the upcoming election.

Based on her address to a special event in Basel, Switzerland, marking the 125th anniversary of the first Zionist Congress, Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, calls for today’s generation to view Zionism not only as a vehicle for building a state, but also for enhancing and enriching Israeli society.

125 years ago, Herzl failed to convince ultra-Orthodox leadership to join the Zionist movement, and while their leadership did sign the Declaration of Independence in 1948, they Haredim remained in their “enclave” communities. Now, if modern-day Israel is to continue to thrive, integration of the ultra-Orthodox is crucial

The study, by Dr. Dana Blander, finds that Israel is the only country where sitting members of parliament serve as members of the body that administers and oversees the elections, without any threshold conditions. The members of Knesset and the other members that are party representatives sitting on the Central Election Committee have the authority to make consequential decisions regarding to the election they themselves are usually competing in - including disqualifying lists and the candidates running against them in the election.

The dramatic differences among the different parties in terms of women’s representation in realistic candidate slots raise the question of what has gone wrong with the gender quota system. One simple recommendation for gradually increasing these quotas could radically change the situation and help ensure equitable representation for women

Half of Israelis intend to vote for the same party they voted for in the previous (2021) elections and almost one-quarter of respondents say that they have not yet decided which party to vote for in the November 1st election

New analysis by Dr. Or Anabi reveals a strong correlation between those who identify as left-wing and their votes for parties categorized on the left. The same applies to Israelis who places themselves in the ideological center. By contrast, the voting patterns of Israelis who identify on the right is more complicated with many voting for parties thought to fall outside of the traditionally-defined right-wing bloc.

Former Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Karnit Flug, explains what lies behind the recent wave of the rise in prices; what is the main tool for dealing with inflation, and how this relates to wage agreements in the public-sector. She makes is clear that we are not back where we were in the 1980s, but, we must deal with the situation without delay.

In order to make a fundamental change we must start treating teaching as a national-priority profession

A special IDI survey found that Israelis say that while there has been an 8.5% rise in their expenses over the past year, wages have remained stagnant – and even declined. The public is also split on which type of government after November’s election would deal best with the high cost of living.

Operation Breaking Dawn was brief and successful, nevertheless the decision-making process for matters of national security must be reformed to deal also with worst-case scenarios

Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s decision to join Benny Gantz and Gideon Sa’ar’s new political framework is a part of a long-standing trend in which retired IDF chiefs of staff join the political system.

The election campaign for the 25th Knesset is in its early stages, and one of the key landmarks is September 15th when all the parties contending must submit their list of candidates.

After President Biden's visit to Israel, more Israelis are convinced of his commitment to ensuring Israel’s security when negotiating with Iran.

The Israeli Voice Index for July 2022 found that the main factor influencing Israelis’ consideration when voting is the party’s platform on economic issues and its plan for coping with the high cost of living (44%). 24% of respondents say that the party head is their top factor in deciding which slate to vote for

While its size may be small, the Edah Haredit ultra-Orthodox group has significant influence over the Haredi society as well as the general Israeli public.

How much does religious affiliation influence the votes that Israelis cast in the ballot box? Central Bureau of Statistics data and Viterbi Center surveys are used to present a comprehensive picture.

The data reveals that Israel’s political system is split by many overlapping divisions - along identity and status lines – making it is far more difficult to change voters’ positions and further contributing to the current political stalemate.

Israel has a closed electoral system, so that on election day, the country’s citizens do not vote for individual representatives, but rather-for a list, which subsequently evolves into a faction in the Knesset. What does that mean in terms of balancing the power between the party and  individual parliament members?

The 24th Knesset has dispersed, around a year and a quarter since it was sworn in. The most prominent finding in the following review is that this Knesset continued the trend set by its predecessor: Both saw a dramatic increase in the number of private members’ bills put forward, and a dramatic reduction in the proportion of such bills that passed a third reading and became laws.

Joint lists decrease political polarization in the Knesset, but this might not hold true when it comes to artificial mergers and parties that have never proven that they represent a significant portion of the population.

The Center of the Israeli political map is fluid and is still developing a systematic and uniform ideological worldview. What do we know about its voters?

The political crisis that afflicted Israel in late 2019, and the global pandemic that followed close on its heels, set the stage for a unique period of institutional development and activity at IDI.

IDI’s newly released Biennial Report provides a detailed look into how IDI experts met the unprecedented challenges of 2020-2021.

Read about IDI’s key policy initiatives, new people and programs, and the important role played by our supporters and partners in Israel and around the world.