Israel's new political force targets ultra-Orthodox Jews

Israel goes to the polls in ten days, and for once the Palestinians are not the only ones being presented as the enemy. Haredim, ultra-Orthodox Jews, are also being attacked by an emerging political party in what is the real surprise of this campaign.

Shinui (Change), a previously small-time party is now third in the polls. The secret of its success? It has run a campaign that has aggressively laid into Haredim. If the polls are right, the party could well propel itself into Israel's next government. It could even hold the balance of power.

Yet it has barely addressed the conflict with the Palestinians. Instead the party is riding high on a ferocious assault on the Haredim – known for the black hats and black coats worn by the men, and the disproportionate amount of power the party says they wield in Israel.

Some analysts believe Shinui's strong performance is partly responsible for the failure of Amram Mitzna, the Labour leader who promised to return to the negotiating table with Yasser Arafat if elected, to galvanise support from the electorate.

At the centre of Shinui's stunning performance is its leader, the charismatic Yosef "Tommy" Lapid. He has been accused of misogyny, homophobia, and racism – not only against Arabs, but also against Sephardim – Jews from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean backgrounds.

At one point he said: "If our Westernism erodes, we won't have a chance. If we let the Eastern European and the North African ghetto take over, we will have nothing left to float on. We will blend into the Semitic region and be lost in a Levantine dunghill."

Mr Lapid speaks six languages, and is the author of ten books and two plays. The former television presenter's conversation is peppered with quotations from English literature. More than that, those who know him say the bluff, straight-talking, at times bigoted image is an act Mr Lapid switches on for the cameras.

When Mr Lapid took over Shinui, it was a small fringe party going nowhere. Then, in the last election, in 1999, it surprised everyone by winning six seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Now polls say it is set to come third with 15 seats.

Mr Lapid's policies are simple. He wants to legalise civil marriages – at the moment only religious marriages are recognised in Israel. He wants the buses to run on the Jewish Sabbath. And above all he wants to force the ultra-Orthodox to serve in the army.

In this he is tapping into a rich seam of bitterness in Israeli society. Nothing seems to raise the hackles of secular Israelis as much as the fact that they are obliged to serve in the army and face death on the frontlines in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempted so they can pray instead.

Added to this is seething resentment that the Haredim do so much better out of state funding, while 80 per cent of them do not work and therefore pay no taxes. And the overwhelming majority of Israelis are secular.

The political power of the ultra-Orthodox rests on proportional representation.

They have their own political parties, which enjoy small but consistent voter support. For years, they have joined in coalition governments to give them narrow majorities – and then blackmailed the bigger parties into agreeing to huge state subsidies for ultra-Orthodox schools and neighbourhoods in return for support on key votes.

But nobody has ever dared campaign against them – until now. Shinui has carefully concentrated on the huge numbers of recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, almost all of whom are secular.

If Mr Lapid has been unafraid to lay into ultra-Orthodox Jews, his own credentials are impeccable.

As a child he lived in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

His father was killed in the Holocaust. He and his mother escaped to Budapest, where they lived in the ghetto and narrowly escaped being killed themselves.

Now Shinui may find itself in government, Mr Lapid has been forced to take a clear position on the conflict with the Palestinians.

He has carefully tried to position himself between Ariel Sharon's Likud Party and Labour, saying he supports an Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, but not until militant attacks stop and Mr Arafat is replaced.

That is a sharp reversal for Mr Lapid, who once vigorously supported Greater Israel – an Israel covering much more of the Middle East than it does now.