Is Israel Ready for a Green Party?

The environment is one of the issues that characterize the agenda of new politics – i.e. politics that embody change in citizens' value systems from material values focusing on primary individual needs to post-material values focusing on satisfaction and self-fulfillment. “New politics” developed against the background of social and economic changes such as the rising standard of living, urbanization, social mobility, the growth of the voluntary sector, the expansion of education in general and academic education in particular, and the development and expansion of the media and information sources. In the State of Israel these processes began to be seen during the 1990s; they have encouraged political discourse focusing in particular on equality and the environment.

Although these processes have been observed in Israel, it is worth adding that in contrast to the growing prominence of green politics in European nations, political discourse in Israel still focuses on issues of foreign relations, security, social affairs, and economics; environmental issues are relatively marginalized. Over the past two decades, however, the importance of environmental issues and considerations has increased steadily both in decision making processes and in terms of public awareness. Polls show that Israelis are interested in the environment; many citizens consider it an important aspect that should receive budgets and for which taxes should be imposed.

However, no green party has yet secured representation in the Knesset. In 1999, the Green Party for the Quality of Life and the Environment in Israel participated in the Knesset elections for the first time, but failed to pass the electoral threshold (see Table 1). A party called Green Leaf also emerged alongside the Green Party; its manifesto focused on the legalization of “light” drugs, and it also presented itself as a green party. In the 2003 elections the strength of the green parties remained static and they failed to pass the threshold. In the 2006 elections, which showed a strong tendency to protest votes, the strength of the Green Party increased significantly, and it drew closer to the electoral threshold (which had been increased to 2 percent in these elections, as compared to 1.5 percent in the past).

Table 1: Green Parties in the Knesset Elections, 1999 – 2006 (Number of Votes; Percent of Total Votes in Parentheses)

Data: Knesset website: http://www.knesset.gov.il

Despite the failure of the green parties to secure representation on the national political level, environmental issues are becoming increasingly prominent in political manifestos. In 1996, the major parties included a section in their manifestos addressing environmental issues. Meretz included the most detailed manifesto on environmental issues in these elections, reflecting its perception of itself as a green party and the fact that many of its voters perceive it as such. In the elections to the Seventeenth Knesset (2006), almost all parties included positions and goals on environmental questions in their manifesto, reflecting a change in the status of this issue in public awareness. Parties from across the political spectrum (the National Religious Party, Shas, the Labor Party, the Likud, Kadima, Meretz, and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) included sections on relevant aspects, including open areas and beaches, industrial pollution, public transport, recycling, and radiation from cellular antennas.

As for voters, studies have shown a correlation between involvement and commitment on environmental issues and a political tendency to the left. Mediating factors behind this finding probably include levels of income and education, since elevated levels of income and education are associated in Israel with a tendency to vote for left-wing parties. These factors have also been shown to predict support for post-material values and “new politics” issues such as the environment.

The difficulty encountered by the Green Party in crossing the electoral threshold is due to the marginal position of this subject in the perception of Israeli voters, relative to the issues on the basis of which they decide which party to support – foreign affairs, security, and the socioeconomic situation. The reality is that a green party whose agenda focuses solely on environmental issues lacks electoral appeal since this issue is still not perceived as of national importance relative to questions of foreign affairs, security, social affairs, and the economy.

Conversely, green parties have secured more impressive achievements on the local level, and have joined municipal coalitions in major cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa (see Table 2).

Table 2: Representatives of Green Parties in the Local Authorities, 1998, 2003

Two main explanations may be offered for the failure of green parties on the national level and their relative success in local politics:

1. Environmental issues are more politically attractive when it comes to questions that directly affect residents’ own “backyards.”
2. Foreign affairs and security are not part of the agenda on the local level; accordingly, alternative issues, including the environment, play an important role in voters’ perceptions.

It is possible that green politics should take its first steps in the field of local politics, as the only way to secure a place in the awareness of voters. In the future, it may be able to form part of the mosaic of national politics.