The Likud has been the political home of most Mizrahi people for decades. In the Likud, they became represented as equals in front of equals, without anyone doing them a favor and decorating their list here and there of the people of the eastern community. The Likud was the first to undertake comprehensive corporate reforms, abolished the regular committee that elected the Knesset's list, and passed the right to vote to the center of the party. In the center of the Mizrahi party, they could express their influence through a competitive partnership on their true place. The neighborhoods, seats and development towns were able to build progress trajectories on a competitive basis and on examining the skills of the candidates.

The Likud was the first time that Mizrahim could start a significant battle for responsibility. Not one given in the deposit, not one given in the Mizrahi referral to marginalized positions, but in the trend of partnering in party management.
Why was this political upheaval of real partnership within the Likud so important? The centers of domination in Israel - in politics and academia, law and economics - from the 1950s until the upheaval, placed most of the Mizrahim in the place that sociologist Eliezer Ben-Raphael called "an opportunity-scarce periphery". This reality that led the Labor movement until 1977, brought poverty, inequality and bitterness, followed by allegations of deprivation. Sometimes these claims took the form of a distinct political organization in the form of sectarian parties, and sometimes took the form of a severe and sometimes violent popular protest. Among these were the Black Panthers (1971) and the Tent Movement (1973).

One of the main barriers that the labor movement has built has focused on blocking the Mizrahi movement routes for academic degrees. This is done with sophistication and efficiency: On the one hand, at the level of statements it is argued that every effort can be made to assist the Mizrahim. In practice, however, they academically blocked every possible way for Mizrahim to integrate into the modernity project of Israeli society. This prevented the possibility of creating an Middle Eastern class - academic and professional - and always washed their hands.

From the mid-1990s to the present, the Likud has been able to produce a continuous trend in reducing income gaps between Mizrahi households and Ashkenazi households. One of the main reasons for the narrowing of the wage gap is the increase in the level of education of those born in the Mizrahi country, which was faster than the natives of the Ashkenazi country. The important point is that the improvement in the Mizrahi situation is reflected in a sharp decline in the weight of Mizrahi households in the lower two deciles and a marked increase in Mizrahi representation in the upper deciles. There is no doubt that the Likud is the one responsible for this. The relative improvement in the condition of the Mizrahi manifests itself in a considerable expansion of their proportion in the middle and upper classes of Israeli society.

The choice of the Mizrahi in the Likud is the most rational choice among the spectrum of political parties currently operating. In contrast, the insulting, patronizing question that deprives us of autonomous thinking: "Why do Mizrahim continue to vote for Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu?" In the Likud, they sought a true partnership, the foundations of which were laid by Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. In every election campaign they repeatedly claim that we are blind and they are the torch that will show us the way. False in a twisted lie. In fact, they have no political commitment whatsoever, except for their hatred of the Likud. What is a political connection between right-wing Yoaz and leftist Yael German?

The choice of white blue is for the Mizrahim a political retreat and defeat - if only because of the oligarchic party structure that Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid determine in their own list of elected officials. Again we went back to parties where everything was set from the top, and the Mizrahim would have no influence on their design. Every beginner dictator was an effort to set the heart of the party's resilience to Israel and there is a future on this issue. Ask Yitzhak Ilan, former Deputy Chief of the ISA, who was casually ousted from Gantz's list. A political structure such as Blue and White promises Mizrahim to block their social-economic outline in the Likud years.

Dr. Uri Cohen is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Tel Aviv University