The Primary Problem: An Analysis of International Donations in Israeli Primary Elections and Their Effect On Israeli Politics

Unlike Israeli general elections, which are publicly funded by the state, Israeli primary elections rely on private funding. Much of this funding comes from international donors. Prior to this paper, the entirety of these foreign donations had not been studied in any systematic manner. This paper analyzes the 4964 donations, including the 971 foreign donations, from the four major parties that had primary elections for the 2013 electoral cycle in order to examine the characteristics of Israeli politicians that made them likely to receive foreign donations. The analysis revealed that foreign donors were more likely to donate to candidates from conservative parties than liberal parties and that a greater percentage of conservative parties’ funds and donors were foreign than were liberal parties’ funds and donors. While this paper found that, for the most part, political experience had no bearing on a politician’s ties to foreign donors, the results also showed that time spent as a party leader closely correlates to all three metrics considered when discussing foreign donations.