Mizrahi Identity and Its Influence on Israeli Politics

Although debates in Israeli politics have traditionally been conducted along the lines of right and left or religious and secular, there is, as this analysis focuses on, a third and generally overlooked axis that profoundly affects the country’s security and foreign policy decisions: the social and political weight of Mizrahi Jews.

Having historically migrated from Arab countries and been subjected to economic and cultural exclusion in Israel’s founding years, this community today forms the core of the right-wing coalition, above all Likud and the Shas party, and has played a critical role, especially recently, in shaping Israel’s security and military strategies.

Turning Historical Trauma into Political Capital

The roots of the Mizrahi community’s political power go back to the great waves of immigration in the 1950s and the period of cultural exclusion that followed. The backlash against Labour governments dominated by the Ashkenazi elite culminated in the Mizrahi revolution of 1977 and made the community the main pillar of today’s right-wing nationalist bloc (Likud, Shas, Religious Zionism).

This historical experience has fostered a strong security-minded outlook among Mizrahi voters. Families’ experiences of expulsion and discrimination in Arab countries, together with the difficult process of integration in Israel, have embedded in collective memory the theme of survival in a hostile environment. This identity-based and traumatic memory is the most important source of a social base that supports hard-line nationalist and security-driven policies.

Identity, Geography and a Hard Security Perception

Mizrahi voters’ support for right-wing policies is fed not only by ideology but also by geographical necessity. Concentrated in cities near the Gaza border such as Beersheba, Sderot and Ashdod, these communities face rocket attacks and border threats directly. This daily perception of threat takes the security question out of the realm of theoretical debate and turns it into a personal and social priority.

The Engine of the Coalition: Religious and Populist Influence

The greatest force behind the resilience of the right-wing coalition in Israel is the political loyalty of Mizrahi voters. For the religious Mizrahi community, the Shas party is not only a religious representative but also a key actor that builds a strong social network and loyalty through its welfare and educational institutions.

Shas’s social organisation and the political weight of Religious Zionism within the coalition both ensure the Mizrahi community’s integration into the state and increase the social legitimacy of strategic decisions in critical operations. (Shas withdrew its ministers from the government in July 2025 over the dispute on military service exemptions, but continued to support the coalition from outside.) Thanks to the support of this voter bloc, the coalition government retains its ability to act flexibly, quickly and harshly on security policy.

Conclusion: Mizrahi Power as a Strategic Backbone

Mizrahi Jews are highly active in the security policies Israel has pursued recently.

Their historical memory, cultural perceptions and strong political organisation provide the government, especially Likud and its allies, with long-term political stability and social legitimacy, while at the same time forging a direct and powerful link in Israeli politics between identity-based trauma and a nationalist perception of security.

The Mizrahi community has thus become an invisible but powerful component not only of Israel’s cultural and social fabric but also of some of its security strategies. Without understanding this community’s political choices, any attempt to grasp the deep social dynamics behind the policies Israel has pursued recently will remain incomplete.