ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the evolution of the politics and voting patterns of the Russian-speaking community in Israel. It traces the rise of the Yisrael Beiteinu (YB) Party, led by Avigdor Lieberman since its founding in 1998. The YB Party has sought support not only from immigrants from the Former Soviet Union but also from a larger number of non-Russian-speaking voters. It had mixed results in this effort, securing 15 Knesset seats in the 2009 Knesset election, but only six in 2015. The YB Party also ran in a union with Likud in the 2013 election, but the two parties, running together, received only 31 Knesset seats, 11 fewer than the two parties had received running separately in 2009. Meanwhile, Lieberman had important roles in Netanyahu’s coalition governments, serving as foreign minister from 2009 to 2013 and as defense minister from 2016 to 2018. And is believed to play a critical role in any version of the next Government.
