The Public Purse and the Private Campaign: Political Finance in Israel

Analysis of Israelis [Jews and Arab–Palestinians]: exploring law in society and society in law

“…Based on these criteria, Israel has been considered a divided political regime, within and outside the ‘green line’. Thus, above the issue of military rule and the absence of civil rights, scholars have largely criticised the lack of effective judicial review by the HCJ over the deeds of the military and the security forces in the 1967 occupied territories (Shamir, 1990; Hofnung, 1996; Peleg, 2004b; Kretzmer, 2002). The more the Supreme Court has become engaged in political affairs, and the more the Israeli academia has been touched by US-led intellectual focus on the judiciary, the more such a scholarly criticism of the HCJ has been aired (Dotan, 2013; Gavison, Kremnitzer and Dotan, 1990; Hirschl, 1997).…”

“…The arrangements of compulsory military service alongside collective political exemptions, e.g. to Yeshiva students, and the relative absence of effective judicial review on military issues, problems in the enforcement of civilian control over the armed forces, the repercussions of the militarisation of Israeli society on the practical status of Israeli Arab-Palestinians, and the scope of desirable obedience to military orders, as well as the preservation of socio-economic stratification due to the sanctification of military and national security needs, have been unveiled in research (Ram, 2006; Shachar, 1981; Sheleff, 1989, 1996; Barzilai, 1996; Ben-Eliezer, 1998; Gans, 1992; Gross, 2003; Hofnung, 1996; Kremnitzer, 1987, 1989, 1994; Kretzmer, 2002; Levy, 2004; Peleg, 1995, 2004b; Simon, 1994; Statman, 1997).…”

2 Entering through the Back Door: Non-Party Actors in Intra-Party (S)electoral Politics

“…In the Israeli case, not only bona fide interest groups took advantage of the new opportunities supplied by the inclusive candidate selection methods. Hofnung reports that some candidates established nonprofit organizations in order to bypass campaign finance rules (Hofnung 1996a;2005a). Moreover, some local strongman, especially in poor communities, took advantage of the large parties' registration campaigns and worked as "vote contractors" (Rahat and Sher Hadar 1999ab).…”

“…Individual donors Hofnung (1996a) points out that at the same time that Israeli political parties are generously financed and are thus not prone to the pressures of private donators, politicians as individuals are dependent on private donations in order to compete in party primaries. He claims that as a result of adopting party primaries, "…the anticipated expenses considered sufficient to present one's candidacy in a party for the Knesset increased tenfold in a single year" (Hofnung 1996b: 76).…”

Rates of incarceration and main trends in Israeli prisons

“…Throughout the 18-year existence of the military government, restrictions on movement and the requirement for travel permits were the most important and effective means of controlling the Arab population. Travel restrictions and proclamation of closed military areas made it possible to limit the return of Arab refugees into Israel, and prevent the 'present absentees', who had been scattered in various Arab villages since 1948, from returning to their former villages and reclaiming their land (Jiryis, 1976;Hofnung, 1996;Korn, 2000b). The system of travel permits aided in controlling the Arab labour force and regulating the supply of Arabs workers to the Jewish labour market according to its needs and demands.…”