Israeli Party Head Calls For Changes In National Politics

An Israeli political activist said last night that the Israeli government "has failed to evolve a new representative leadership to replace the old mandate-period source," and said this failure has resulted in the government's loss of credibility.

Amnon Rubinstein, dean of the Tel Aviv University Law School and a founding member of the political party Shinui (change), told an audience of about 100 people at the Science Center. "The centralized political machinery in Israel has been responsible for a great deal of alienation."

Shinui grew out of popular protests against government policies following the October War in 1972.

Rubinstein said that Israeli voters must cast their ballots for lists of candidates whom they have no part in selecting, and who, for the most part, do not share the voters' vocations. He added that these candidates, when elected, do not represent specific localities in the Israeli parliament.

He said this system is the partial cause for the "floating vote"--voters who go into the polling place undecided--of 30 to 40 per cent in Israeli elections.

"In a highly politicized society like Israel, such a large floating vote is incredible," Rubinstein said.

He added that the problem of a leadership crisis is not unique to Israel, and said that it was due only to structural flaws, and not to deficiencies inherent in the national psyche.