Waving the Flag
Most of our members have belonged to the Hashomer Hatzair Youth Movement and haven't changed their basic political outlook, which is social-democratic on the whole and most of us are members of the Meretz party. While you may find a few whose ideas about Arabs do not coincide with the party line, most members of Reshafim are strong supporters of the Oslo Accord and the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, as the 1996 election results show: Shimon Peres received 98% of the votes cast at the kibbutz (a few non-members vote here as well, some known to be supporting right-wing parties.)| Settlement | % Votes for PM | % Votes for Knesset | ||||||||
| Name | Affiliation | Peres | Netanyahoo | Labour | Likud | Meretz | NRP | Shas | Others | |
| Beit Yosef | Moshav Movement | Moshav | 17 | 83 | 11 | 30 | - | 8 | 37 | 5 |
| Ein Hanatziv | Hapoel Hamizrahi | Kibbutz | 26 | 74 | 11 | 10 | - | 73 | - | 6 |
| Gesher | Takam | Kibbutz | 93 | 7 | 83 | 3 | 8 | - | - | 6 |
| Hammadia | Takam | Kibbutz | 86 | 14 | 75 | 11 | 7 | - | - | 7 |
| Kfar Ruppin | Takam | Kibbutz | 92 | 8 | 76 | 5 | 13 | - | - | 6 |
| Maale Gilboa | Hapoel Hamizrahi | Kibbutz | 34 | 66 | 9 | 5 | - | 58 | - | 18 |
| Maoz Haim | Takam | Kibbutz | 96 | 4 | 81 | 2 | 12 | - | - | 5 |
| Merav | Hapoel Hamizrahi | Kibbutz | 6 | 94 | - | - | - | 82 | - | 8 |
| Messilot | Hashomer Hatzair | Kibbutz | 98 | 2 | 46 | - | 50 | - | - | 5 |
| Neve Ur | Takam | Kibbutz | 97 | 3 | 75 | 2 | 16 | - | - | 7 |
| Neve Eitan | Takam | Kibbutz | 97 | 3 | 80 | 4 | 11 | - | - | 5 |
| Nir David | Hashomer Hatzair | Kibbutz | 98 | 2 | 34 | - | 60 | - | - | 7 |
| Rehov | Moshav Movement | Moshav | 4 | 96 | - | 38 | - | 42 | 18 | 2 |
| Reshafim | Hashomer Hatzair | Kibbutz | 98 | 2 | 35 | 2 | 59 | - | - | 4 |
| Revaya | Moshav Movement | Moshav | 6 | 94 | 4 | 59 | - | 17 | 17 | 7 |
| Sde Eliahu | Hapoel Hamizrahi | Kibbutz | 19 | 81 | 7 | 13 | - | 78 | - | 2 |
| Sde Nahum | Takam | Kibbutz | 96 | 4 | 79 | 6 | 8 | - | - | 7 |
| Sde Trumot | Moshav Movement | Moshav | 1 | 99 | - | 62 | - | 27 | 9 | 2 |
| Shluhot | Hapoel Hamizrahi | Kibbutz | 23 | 77 | 8 | 10 | - | 72 | - | 10 |
| Tel Teumim | 98 | 2 | 53 | - | - | 23 | 10 | 14 | ||
| Tirat Tzvi | Hapoel Hamizrahi | Kibbutz | 23 | 77 | 9 | 10 | - | 71 | - | 10 |
| Yardena | Moshav Movement | Moshav | 41 | 59 | 30 | 32 | - | 18 | 12 | 8 |
The results of the 1999 elections
| For Primeminister | |||
| Barak | 268 | (98%) | Labour Party - Nationwide 56% |
| Netanyahu | 5 | (2%) | Likud - Nationwide 44% |
| The Knesset | |||
| Meretz | 173 | (64%) | Socialist Party (10 seats) |
| Labour Party | 72 | (26%) | Social Democratic Party (26 seats) |
| Hadash | 3 | (1%) | Communist Party, Mostly Arabic (3 seats) |
| Third Way | 3 | (1%) | For the annexation of the Golan (0 seats) |
| Israel b'alyah | 1 | (%) | Immigrants, mostly Russians (6 seats) |
| Centre Party | 7 | (2%) | As the name says (6 seats) |
| Pnina Rosenbloom | 1 | (%) | An Ego trip (0 seats) |
| Shinui | 5 | (2%) | Anti religious, in favour of Oslo (6 seats) |
| Pensioners | 1 | (%) | (0 seats) |
| Green Leaf | 8 | (3%) | For legalisation of Marijuana (0 seats) |
| Likud | 2 | (1%) | Nationalist right wing (19 seats) |
| National Union | 3 | (1%) | Extreme right (4 seats) |
Feeling much better now, thank you very much
2001: Barak vs Sharon
Alas, it didn't work out. Hopes were too high. Barak made too many mistakes and Arafat was a major pain in the proverbial. But let's forget the national débâcle and concentrate on our little corner of paradise.
| Barak | 239 | 92% |
| Sharon | 17 | 6½% |
| Not valid | 4 | 1½% |
| Total | 260 | 100% |
So, despite the general disappointment with Barak as a PM our kibbutz has remained true to its beliefs in the necessity of peace. But even among us there were more people than ever voting for a hawkish ideology, and less voters than ever turned up.
The attitude of kibbutzniks towards Sharon is much more ambivalent than towards any other right-winger. Firstly, he's one of 'ours'. He belongs to what is so quaintly called 'the working settlement' movement. In the army he generally led troops who came to a large extent from moshavim and kibbutzim. And secondly, as a minister he was consistently in favour of settlements, be they legal kibbutzim and moshavim inside Israel proper or dubious west bank settlements. He was a friend in right-wing governments openly hostile towards the kibbutzim.
Still, his vision is not ours. Let's hope he will justify his election slogan "Only Sharon will make peace", which caused us quite a few moments of mirth.
The 2003 elections
OK, so what if Sharon did not bring peace. Soon we'll have elections once a fortnight anyway - and not much to rejoice about. Arik Sharon, after a volte-face on practically any issue of importance (a Palestinian state, a fence between the occupied territories and Israel), a dismal economic performance and financial scandals has managed to to come out on top. One may well wonder how inept a right-wing government has to be in order to be voted out of power.Whatever.
Even among us more and more people are giving up on left-wing socialist ideals and for the first time Labour has surpassed Meretz:
| Labour Party | 110 | "Social-democratic", still considered the party of the establishment |
| Meretz | 100 | Left-wing social-democratic |
| Shinui | 20 | Touted as a party of the centre, Shinui is the most right-wing party economically and socially |
| Likud | 12 | Right of centre with extremist loony fringes |
| Ale Yarok | 10 | Supports legalisation of hashish and not much else |
| National Block | 4 | Led by Liebermann, who proposes reconquest of all the occupied territories and other hard line policies. As close to fascism as you can be without crossing the line |
| One People | 4 | The party of the Histadrut leader Amir Peretz |
| Israel Aheret | 2 | |
| Herut | 2 | |
| Communists | 1 | More Arab nationalist than communist |
| Love of Israel | 1 | |
| Green Party | 1 |
March 2006
Ok, another round, not too bad after three years. Arik Sharon, a well-known opportunist, has caused havoc in the political scene. Even we felt the winds of change blowing:| Labour Party | 84 | 31.4% | See above |
| Communists | 1 | 0.3% | See above |
| Lehem | 1 | 0.3% | |
| Old age pensioners | 13 | 4.8% | Somewhat of a surprise |
| National Union | 3 | 1.1% | To the right of Libermann |
| Shinui | 0 | 0% | Shinui means Change. Before the election a slogan was proposed: "Tomorrow's forecast: without Change". |
| Kadima | 36 | 13.4% | Sharon's ad-hoc party |
| Tzomet | 1 | 0.3% | I didn't even know they still existed |
| Israel Beitenu | 1 | 0.3% | Libermann's right-wing Russian party |
| Likud | 1 | 0.3% | Sic transit gloria mundi. Thank god! |
| Meretz | 111 | 41.5% | Still going strong in the kibbutzim, otherwise losing ground. It may be time to merge with Labour |
| Tafnit | 1 | 0.3% | Uzi Dayan's ego trip |
| Ale Yarok | 9 | 3.3% | Still hoping to get joints legalized |
| Green Party | 3 | 1.1% | |
| Shas | 1 | 0.3% | Ultra-orthodox right wing, with left-wing social agenda. Their leader promised his voters paradise. |
February 2009
Chronicling Israeli elections is a miserable business, if your heart is on the left side, as it naturally ought to be. Reshafim is not immune to the the right-wing pandemic, spreading all over the globe. Here goes:| Labour Party | 77 | 29 % | Ehud is still quite popular here |
| Kadima | 67 | 25 % | Livni, the great hope of the centre |
| Israel Beitenu | 5 | 2 % | Since the last elections Libermann has added a few right-wing wrinkles to his arsenal of hatred. |
| Likud | 9 | 3 % | Bibi's back! Though not here. |
| Meretz | 97 | 36 % | As the oldtimers die, support for the Party wanes. |
| Others | 12 | 4 % | The Israeli political disease: splinter parties. |
