Despite an apparent landslide victory for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Tuesday’s elections, the country’s future remains uncertain, a visiting professor from Tel Aviv University told students Thursday at the Fiedler Hillel Center.
Elie Rekhess, a leading expert on Israeli politics, cited ethnic divides and a growing desire for national security as influences on the elections in his speech, sponsored by Students for Israel.
Rekhess, a senior associate at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, is a visiting faculty member in Northwestern’s history department.
Rekhess said Sharon, whose right-wing Likud party won 38 of the 120 seats in Israel’s parliament, did not get the sort of victory he was looking for. The prime minister now has only 42 days to build a coalition of at least 61 seats to govern.
Rekhess said Sharon hopes to unite with his rivals in the Labor Party, which lost five of its 26 seats, but Labor leader Amram Mitzna has refused to join. He said this will force Sharon to consider a variety of centrist and far-right parties.
“I thought (Rekhess) did a real good job taking the major parties who are going to have the most influence and explaining the implications,” said Jonathan Powell, president of Students for Israel and a Weinberg junior.
If Sharon can’t form a coalition, Rekhess said, he may hold another election.
“For the average Israeli, when he hears a declaration of this sort, the immediate question is, ‘If we are going to elections again, what were these elections for?'” Rekhess said.
Rekhess also discussed the growing voter apathy in Israel. Only 68 percent of Jewish Israelis voted in Tuesday’s elections, a 10 percent decrease from the 2001 elections.
Although the Israeli government may be fractured now, Rekhess said some cynics think Sharon believes a war with Iraq will bring competing factions together.
Rekhess expressed frustration with voters and candidates in general, lamenting their lack of concern for social and economic problems. Rekhess said internal conflict and Mitzna’s “uncharismatic, uninspiring” personality contributed to Labor’s losses.
Joshua Kirschenbaum, Students for Israel’s vice president of political affairs, said he enjoyed hearing Rekhess’ views.
“He’s really fascinating,” said Kirschenbaum, an Education junior. “We don’t have many people who speak with expertise about Israeli politics.”
