ABSTRACT
The formation of Shas in 1983 was a watershed for the representation of Sephardim in Israeli politics, since Sephardim did not have a significant voice in the mainstream political parties before the establishment of the Shas movement. In the wake of state formation, mainstream political parties supported ethnic Sephardi organizations in the national elections. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the party leadership know that their incorporation into the government is a favorable political opportunity. Shas's inclusion in successive coalition governments provided the party a political opportunity by granting access to important governmental resources. The control of the Labor and Social Welfare Ministry and the Ministry of Health provided Shas with an opportunity to distribute vital resources to two groups that form the backbone of Shas's electoral support, namely poor Mizrahim and ultra-Orthodox Sephardim. The alliance of the Sephardim with the ultra-Orthodox and Religious Zionist parties started to crumble in the 1980s with the defection of major figures from these parties.
