Is Israel a House Divided?

I’m very grateful to Evelyn Gordon, Daniel Polisar, and Douglas Feith for their stimulating responses to my essay, “How and Why Israelis Vote,” which appeared in Mosaic a week before the April 9 elections. Since each of them tackles the issues from a different perspective, I’ll reply in kind by addressing them one by one, in the order in which they were published.

I.

In her response, Evelyn Gordon focuses on the question of Israel’s complex and oft-derided electoral system. Agreeing with me that, actually, the system encourages the inclusion and integration into the Zionist mainstream of groups that might not otherwise find a place in Israel’s deeply divided society, she takes my basic argument a step farther.