Israel’s national unity governments and domestic politics

National unity governments have been one of Israel’s more important political arrangements; they have helped Israel achieve both stability and competitiveness. The institution of the national unity government has reflected the vicissitudes of domestic politics, has been conditioned by them, and has fashioned their continued development. The three national unity governments turned weaknesses into strengths. The first transformed an apprehensive, besieged nation into a unified and victorious whole. The second turned a political stalemate into a political mutual-support mechanism for the two major parties. They are: Labor and the Likud. The third parried the thrusts of the political extremes and the orthodox religious groups. Vociferous protests by Jewish communities abroad and demonstrations within Israel put the Who is a Jew issue on the back burner, and an unusual intervention by the president of Israel finally led the big parties into a another national unity government.