WRONG DIVISION:

The chasm within: A stripped-down welfare state plus migration have opened up ominous new divisions in Israeli society (David Landau, 5/13/08, The Guardian)

[B]ibi is the frontrunner for prime minister again, and all his old allies are lining up in the hope of clambering back into power. But a lot has changed in Israel's sectorised society. [...]

The Russians - and there have been more than a million migrants in the past 20 years from the former Soviet Union - are on the make, with the classic profile of the Jewish migrant: determined, hard-working and studious. There are enough of them to sustain a flourishing culture - attracting a new respect from other Israelis.

Such confident multiculturalism helps explain an easing in the perennial Orthodox-secular strains in Israeli society. The downside is the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Bibi had hacked away at the welfare state with a vigour that made Thatcherites pale. Many economists say he saved the country. But a million or more poor Israelis have yet to feel the promised trickle-down effect, while the super-rich soar into the stratosphere. Silver-tongued Bibi may bamboozle with a bridge of words. But the chasm between rich and poor yawns dark and menacing.

It was, of course, the multiculturalism that made it so easy to finally kill off the socialism. Where Jews might not mind taking care of Jewish have-nots, they aren't going to take care of Arab have-nots and the situation is exacerbated by the demographics which trend towards an eventual Arab majority. That majority may well not leave them any choice in the matter.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 12, 2008 7:49 PM