Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 10, 2015

Traditional Support of Likud Is Fraying Amid Economic Woes

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Published March 10, 2015.

(Reuters) In the past, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus right-wing Likud party could count on Israelis like 50-year-old shopkeeper Yossi Levy when it came to election day.

Levy, who describes himself as a lifelong Likud voter, is a member of Israels Sephardic community - Jews of Middle Eastern descent who, attracted by a tough stance towards Arab enemies, have traditionally been the partys backbone.

But political analysts say Sephardim, disproportionately poorer than Israels Ashkenazi Jews with roots in Europe, may throw their support elsewhere in the March 17 election, angry over the high cost of living and housing prices.

War is something we live with all the time, now all that interests me is keeping the refrigerator full, Levy said at a grocery shop in a market in the Talpiot fruit and vegetable market in the northern city of Haifa.

Opinion polls show Netanyahu running neck-and-neck with Isaac Herzog, head of the center-left Zionist Union. Likud seems to have more potential allies for a governing coalition but the equation could change if Zionist Union ultimately wins several parliamentary seats more than Netanyahus party.

Netanyahus battle to preserve Sephardic backing in Israels lower-income areas is being played out in places such as the Haifa marketplace and Jerusalems Mahane Yehuda market, where the prime minister himself made an appearance on Monday.

But in a departure from tradition, reporters were not given advance notice of Netanyahus visit - a sign, some commentators said, of campaign concerns of a lukewarm welcome in what has long been a bastion of Likud support.

Excerpt from:

Will Israel's Sephardic Voters Desert Benjamin Netanyahu?

Category: Sephardic
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