1988 Israeli legislative election

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 11th Knesset.

On 8 October 1988, the Alignment leader Shimon Peres visited the Likud stronghold Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem. There, he was greeted by a mob of angry protesters, who called him "Peres Arafat", a "traitor", and a "maniac", and threw buckets of cold water at him, forcing dozens of police officers being called to guide Peres away from the demonstrators.^[2]

On the same day, Ratz's Yossi Sarid unsuccessfully testified to the Central Elections Committee to block the ultranationalist pro-transfer Moledet party from running, while the Progressive leader Muhammad Miari demanded to disqualify Moledet, Tehiya and Tzomet. This came as the Justice Minister Avraham Sharir (Likud) tried to get Miari arrested for meeting with Yasser Arafat.^[2]

Ratz's surge in the polls caused fear among the right-wing parties. Likud's youth wing handed out letters saying, "If you want a big strong Ratz, but in opposition, vote for Ratz, but if you want a smaller Ratz, but in government, vote for the Alignment."^[2]

During the campaign, left-wing parties were in a state of conflict. Mapam and Ratz rejected the possibility of running on a joint list.^[3] When Ratz signed a surplus vote agreement with the Alignment, Mapam accused Ratz of wanting to "remove Mapam from the political scene", to which Ratz leader Shulamit Aloni responded by saying that "Mapam's panic is understandable. It is a spoiled party, rich in assets and jobs, which fears any young, fresh organization without vested economic interests that comes to fight with clean hands." She also highlighted the inevitability of the two parties becoming allies, comparing Mapam to the biblical character Saul throwing his spear at David.^[4] Further to the left, there was outright hostility between the Progressive List for Peace and Hadash, resulting in physical altercations between their activists.^[5]

The PLP criticised Ratz for giving its 'unconditional' support to Shimon Peres's bid to become prime minister, while ignoring the fact that Peres was set to appoint Yitzhak Rabin, who the PLP called 'a minister of blood and gore', as Defense Minister. The PLP criticised Ratz, Hadash, Mapam and Shinui for not assembling a coherent singular force for peace in the Knesset. The PLP also stated they would not support a Peres-led government if it was not up to their standards.^[6]

The Jericho bus firebombing, which killed an Israeli mother and her three children, galvanised voters to force a last-minute swing to the right, just when the Alignment was gaining on the Likud in polls.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The Israel Broadcasting Authority separated the parties into two blocs:

• Left-wing:
  • Jewish: Alignment, Ratz, Mapam, Shinui, Meimad
  • Arab: Hadash, PLP, Mada
• Right-wing:
  • Secular: Likud, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet. Hadashot also included Kach in this grouping.
  • Religious: Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Degel HaTorah, Mafdal, Morasha (dropped out in August 1988).

Ometz dissolved into Likud, and Yahad ran as part of the Alignment.

Ma'ariv polled Morasha together with Mafdal.^[17]

More information Party, Votes ...

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Likud	709,305	31.07	40	−1
	Alignment	685,363	30.02	39	−5
	Shas	107,709	4.72	6	+2
	Agudat Yisrael	102,714	4.50	5	+3
	Ratz	97,513	4.27	5	+2
	National Religious Party	89,720	3.93	5	+1
	Hadash	84,032	3.68	4	0
	Tehiya	70,730	3.10	3	−2
	Mapam	56,345	2.47	3	New
	Tzomet	45,489	1.99	2	New
	Moledet	44,174	1.93	2	New
	Shinui	39,538	1.73	2	−1
	Degel HaTorah	34,279	1.50	2	New
	Progressive List for Peace	33,695	1.48	1	−1
	Arab Democratic Party	27,012	1.18	1	New
	Pensioners	16,674	0.73	0	New
	Meimad	15,783	0.69	0	New
	Derekh Aretz	4,253	0.19	0	New
	Or Movement	4,182	0.18	0	New
	Movement for Social Justice	3,222	0.14	0	New
	Yishai – Tribal Israel Together	2,947	0.13	0	New
	Movement for Moshavim	2,838	0.12	0	New
	Tarshish	1,654	0.07	0	New
	Silent Power	1,579	0.07	0	New
	Movement for Demobilised Soldiers	1,018	0.04	0	New
	Yemenite Association	909	0.04	0	New
	Unity	446	0.02	0	0
Total		2,283,123	100.00	120	0
Valid votes		2,283,123	99.03
Invalid/blank votes		22,444	0.97
Total votes		2,305,567	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,894,267	79.66
Source: IDI, Nohlen et al.

Close

Political observers noted that if Hadash and the Progressive List for Peace had made a surplus vote agreement, the latter would have won a surplus seat, which was ultimately won by the Shas-Degel surplus agreement.^[5]

Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-third government on 22 December 1988, including the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah in his coalition, with 25 ministers.

In 1990 Shimon Peres tried to form an Alignment-led coalition in a move that became known as "the dirty trick", but failed to win sufficient support. Eventually Shamir formed the twenty-fourth government on 11 June 1990, with a coalition encompassing Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael, Degel HaTorah, the New Liberal Party, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet, Unity for Peace and Immigration and Geulat Yisrael. Tehiya, Tzomet and Moledet all left the coalition in late 1991/early 1992 in protest at Shamir's participation in the Madrid Conference.

Several defections occurred during the Knesset term; five members of Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea. After two of them returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party. Yitzhak Peretz left Shas and established Moria. Eliezer Mizrahi left Agudat Yisrael and established Geulat Yisrael. Efraim Gur left the Alignment to establish Unity for Peace and Immigration, which later merged into Likud.

The Twelfth Knesset saw the rise of the ultra-orthodox religious parties as a significant force in Israeli politics, and as a crucial "swing" element which could determine which of the large two secular parties (Likud, Alignment) would get to form the coalition government. Ratz, Mapam, and Shinui merged into Meretz, while Black Panthers broke away from Hadash.