The dirty trick (Israel)
Encyclopedia
The dirty trick refers to a political scandal
that erupted in Israel
in 1990. It consisted of an attempt by Shimon Peres
to form a narrow government made up of the left-wing factions and the ultra-orthodox
parties. It failed when the ultra-Orthodox parties backed out on the deal.
James Baker
suggested that Israel negotiate with a Palestinian delegation consisting of Palestinians deported from the Israeli occupied territories as well as some from East Jerusalem
. Finance Minister and Labor Party leader Peres demanded that the government accept Baker's proposal. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir
, under pressure from his party, the Likud
, refused. Peres gave Shamir an ultimatum, threatening to leave the national unity government
if Shamir did not accept the Baker plan.
and Shas
to support the dissolution of the government
. The Alignment
then issued a motion of no confidence
against the government. Shamir subsequently fired Peres, and the other Alignment ministers followed suit. On 15 March, the government was dissolved by a vote of 60 to 55. Agudat Yisrael voted for the motion, while Shas abstained. It was the only time in Israeli history that a government was dissolved by a motion of no confidence.
After the government fell, President
Chaim Herzog
chose Peres to form the new government. Peres soon found this task difficult. Speaking in a rally at the Yad Eliyahu Arena, Rabbi Elazar Shach
, Degel HaTorah
's spiritual leader, called on his public not to tolerate a coalition with the secular, Kashrut
-violating left, "eaters of hares and swine". This later became known as "The hares address". Following Rabbi Shach's firm objection, Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
also refused to allow its party members to join a Peres government. Peres then had only 60 MKs, one less than necessary. The extra MK would be Avraham Sharir
, who had left the Likud in February to form the New Liberal Party
.
The new government was to be approved on 11 April. However, on that morning two Agudat Yisrael MKs, Eliezer Mizrahi
and Avraham Verdiger
, were absent, due to the Lubavitcher
Rebbe
(Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
)'s ruling not to support any concession of an Israeli territory. It later turned out that Mizrahi was not even present at the signing of the agreement between the Alignment and Agudat Yisrael, while Verdiger only pretended to sign it, in fact just waving his pen over the paper.
Peres asked the President for an extension, but had to surrender his mandate on 26 April. Shamir was given the mandate, and managed to form a right-wing coalition. Sharir returned to the Likud following Shamir's memorable cry "Abrasha, come back home!", and Efraim Gur
, who left the Alignment, also joined. Shamir presented his new government
on 11 June.
named the affair "the dirty trick" in an interview, saying "All this bluff and corruptibility which came into the Israeli political life in an attempt to form a narrow government, failed not only tactically but also conceptually". Despite the incident, Peres avoided an immediate leadership election within the Labor Party, although he lost the contest to Rabin prior to the 1992 elections.
During the affair, potential coalition members publicly demanded inducements, including a $2.5 million bank bond, $111 million in subsidies for private religious schools, and guaranteed seats in the Knesset
. This prompted protests by the Israeli public, including rallies and hunger strikes. It was in one of the rallies in Israel Kings' Square that the call "Mush'hatim, Nim'astem!" ("Fed up with the corrupt!") was first uttered. It was later adopted by the Labor Party in its 1992 elections
campaign (when it was led by Rabin), and is considered to have been instrumental to its victory.
The affair also led to an electoral reform and a direct elections format for the position of Prime Minister.
Political scandal
A political scandal is a kind of political corruption that is exposed and becomes a scandal, in which politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in various illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices...
that erupted in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1990. It consisted of an attempt by Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
to form a narrow government made up of the left-wing factions and the ultra-orthodox
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
parties. It failed when the ultra-Orthodox parties backed out on the deal.
Background
In early 1990, the United States Secretary of StateUnited States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
James Baker
James Baker
James Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician and political advisor.Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
suggested that Israel negotiate with a Palestinian delegation consisting of Palestinians deported from the Israeli occupied territories as well as some from East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
. Finance Minister and Labor Party leader Peres demanded that the government accept Baker's proposal. Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir
' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...
, under pressure from his party, the Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
, refused. Peres gave Shamir an ultimatum, threatening to leave the national unity government
National unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...
if Shamir did not accept the Baker plan.
The move
Peres drafted a secret agreement with Aryeh DeriAryeh Deri
Aryeh Deri is an Israeli politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party.-Biography:After Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence in 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai...
and Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
to support the dissolution of the government
Twenty-third government of Israel
The twenty-third government of Israel was formed by Yitzhak Shamir of Likud on 22 December 1988, following the November 1988 elections. The government remained a national unity coalition between Likud and the Alignment, with the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah also...
. The Alignment
Alignment (political party)
The Alignment was an alliance of the major left-wing parties in Israel between the 1960s and 1990s. It was established in 1965 as an alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda but was dissolved three years later when the two parties and Rafi formally merged into the Israeli Labor Party...
then issued a motion of no confidence
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
against the government. Shamir subsequently fired Peres, and the other Alignment ministers followed suit. On 15 March, the government was dissolved by a vote of 60 to 55. Agudat Yisrael voted for the motion, while Shas abstained. It was the only time in Israeli history that a government was dissolved by a motion of no confidence.
After the government fell, President
President of Israel
The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
chose Peres to form the new government. Peres soon found this task difficult. Speaking in a rally at the Yad Eliyahu Arena, Rabbi Elazar Shach
Elazar Shach
Elazar Menachem Man Shach also spelt Eliezer Schach, was a leading Lithuanian-born and educated Haredi rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel. He also served as one of three co-deans of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak along with Rabbis Shmuel Rozovsky and Dovid Povarsky...
, Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah is an Ashkenazi Haredi political party in Israel. For much of its existence it has been allied to Agudat Yisrael under the name United Torah Judaism.-Ideology:...
's spiritual leader, called on his public not to tolerate a coalition with the secular, Kashrut
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
-violating left, "eaters of hares and swine". This later became known as "The hares address". Following Rabbi Shach's firm objection, Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a recognised Talmudic scholar and foremost halakhic authority.He currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli parliament...
also refused to allow its party members to join a Peres government. Peres then had only 60 MKs, one less than necessary. The extra MK would be Avraham Sharir
Avraham Sharir
-Biography:Sharir was born in 1932 in Tel Aviv, where he attended high school. He studied law at the Hebrew University and was certified as a lawyer. From 1954 to 1964 he was secretary of the General Zionist faction in the Knesset...
, who had left the Likud in February to form the New Liberal Party
New Liberal Party (Israel)
The New Liberal Party was a political party in Israel in the early 1990s.-Background:The party was formed on 15 March 1990 during the twelfth Knesset by five MKs who had broken away from Likud...
.
The new government was to be approved on 11 April. However, on that morning two Agudat Yisrael MKs, Eliezer Mizrahi
Eliezer Mizrahi
Eliezer Mizrahi is an Israeli former politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1988 and 1992, and as Deputy Minister of Health from 1990 until 1992.-Biography:...
and Avraham Verdiger
Avraham Verdiger
Avraham Verdiger is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for several ultra-Orthodox parties between 1965 and 1996.-Biography:Born in Łódź in Poland, Verdiger made aliyah as a Zionist returnee to Mandate Palestine in 1947...
, were absent, due to the Lubavitcher
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
Rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
(Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
)'s ruling not to support any concession of an Israeli territory. It later turned out that Mizrahi was not even present at the signing of the agreement between the Alignment and Agudat Yisrael, while Verdiger only pretended to sign it, in fact just waving his pen over the paper.
Peres asked the President for an extension, but had to surrender his mandate on 26 April. Shamir was given the mandate, and managed to form a right-wing coalition. Sharir returned to the Likud following Shamir's memorable cry "Abrasha, come back home!", and Efraim Gur
Efraim Gur
Efraim Gur is an Israeli former politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1988 and 1996, and as Deputy Minister of Communications and Deputy Minister of Transportation in the early 1990s.-Biography:...
, who left the Alignment, also joined. Shamir presented his new government
Twenty-fourth government of Israel
The twenty-fourth government of Israel was formed by Yitzhak Shamir of Likud on 11 June 1990. This followed the failure of Alignment leader Shimon Peres to form a government, after the Alignment had pulled out of the previous national unity coalition, in an incident which became known as the dirty...
on 11 June.
Aftermath
Yitzhak RabinYitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
named the affair "the dirty trick" in an interview, saying "All this bluff and corruptibility which came into the Israeli political life in an attempt to form a narrow government, failed not only tactically but also conceptually". Despite the incident, Peres avoided an immediate leadership election within the Labor Party, although he lost the contest to Rabin prior to the 1992 elections.
During the affair, potential coalition members publicly demanded inducements, including a $2.5 million bank bond, $111 million in subsidies for private religious schools, and guaranteed seats in the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
. This prompted protests by the Israeli public, including rallies and hunger strikes. It was in one of the rallies in Israel Kings' Square that the call "Mush'hatim, Nim'astem!" ("Fed up with the corrupt!") was first uttered. It was later adopted by the Labor Party in its 1992 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1992
Elections for the thirteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June 1992. The result was a victory for the left, led by Yitzhak Rabin's Labor Party, though their win was at least partially due to several small right-wing parties narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold and thus effectively...
campaign (when it was led by Rabin), and is considered to have been instrumental to its victory.
The affair also led to an electoral reform and a direct elections format for the position of Prime Minister.