DOCSLIB.ORG

Jabotinsky-Begin-Lieberman: the Changing Face of the Likud Party

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Jabotinsky-Begin-Lieberman: the Changing Face of the Likud Party Jozef Olmert 137 Jozef OLMERT JABOTINSKY-BEGIN-LIEBERMAN: Jozef OLMERT THE CHANGING FACE OF THE University of South Carolina United States of America LIKUD PARTY [email protected] ABSTRACT KEYWORDS The portraits of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the founding father of the • Jabotinsky’s legacy Revisionist Zionist Movement, the mother party of the current Likud, as well • nationalism as that of Menachem Begin, the first ever Likud P.M are always in display • liberalism when the party holds its general conferences and occasional central committee • religion meetings. Clearly, the party takes pride in commemorating the historic leaders • social awareness and their political legacy. It definitely wants its members and supporters, as • intelectual openness well as the general public to believe that this is the case. Almost a year ago, the Likud Party held its internal primaries, in which close to 70,000 members elected their list of candidates ahead of the Knesset parliamentary elections of 22 January 2013. Benny Begin, Dan Meridor and Michael Eithan , three veteran members of the Knesset and ministers were overwhelmingly voted out. The three had a common denominator; they were considered ‘’soft’’ Likudniks, moderate, Liberal-oriented politicians. They belonged to the ‘’old guard’’, modeled on the traditional Revisionist Jabotinsky - Begin ideology. In their place, a group of younger leaders, known as more militant Likudniks, were elected to high places in the list of candidates. The Likud primaries were held shortly after the surprising announcement by P.M Netanyahu about the creation of an electoral bloc between Likud and the Israel Beitenu party, led by Avigdor Lieberman. Many political commentators related to both the results of the Likud primaries and the merger with Lieberman as the beginning of the ‘’new Likud’’, a development which practically was in the making for a long time, and finally got its formal seal ahead of the 2013 elections. This paper is not supposed to be a detailed history of the Likud party. It is not also a theoretical discussion of the processes which lead a political party, with a well-defined ideology to change this very ideology,, while professing to adhere to it. Consequently, the paper is not using a methodology which is designed to create a comparison with similar situations in other countries. Rather it is intended to describe and analyze an important chapter in the political history of the State of Israel. The narrative emphasizes the various stages through which the party evolved, by concentrating on some of the significant developments which may have irreversibly changed this historic movement. So, the main changes are analyzed as they have evolved through a 138 The Romanian Journal of Society and Politics long period of time, and by emphasizing the roles of particular personalities. That is being done while putting them in the context of the changes which occurred in the politics of Israel in general, due to socio-demographic-cultural developments. The sources mainly used are such, that enable us to look at the political history of the party mostly from the perspective of those who either are opponents of Likud’s ideology to start with, or those who regret the changes described in the paper. The gist of the narrative is the rise of Likud to power in Israel, and staying there for 3 decades, thus taking the movement from a position of near political marginality into one of dominance. Still, the political power of Likud, judging by the number of seats in the Knesset is in a state of gradual decline. Israel is known for its shifty politics, so it is premature to predict the demise of the Likud party, and the end of the era of its political dominance, but it is definitely not premature to show, as this paper tries to do, that the current party, with AvigdorLieberman as a key figure is fundamentally different from the movement molded after the legacy of Jabotinsky and Begin . 1. Introduction Ze’ev Jabotinsky was an’’ ardent nationalist’’, according to the anti-Zionist historian Avi Shlaim1, who emphasized Jabotinsky‘s unshakeable belief in the absolute, undisputed right of the Jewish people over Eretz Israel from both banks of the Jordan river (in a famous song, Jabotinsky referred to the river as the ‘’sacred Jordan’’). Jabotinsky believed that this territory assigned to the Jews in the original Mandate was to be the independent Jewish state, which should have been established as soon as possible. In fact, the demand for statehood became an official Zionist policy only during the Second World War2, but for Jabotinsky and his followers it was a must from day one of their movement. Moreover, beyond believing in the statehood over the entire historic homeland, Jabotinsky believed also that the national-ethnic identity was the most significant source of solidarity in human history. While Jabotinsky was an uncompromising nationalist, he was also an uncompromising Liberal. Raphaela Bilski Ben-Hur is absolutely right in referring to Jabotinsky as follows: ’There is little doubt that Jabotinsky was a committed Nineteenth-Century Liberal who succeeded in adapting his liberal teachings to the complexity of the modern world. He did state that, had he been able, he would have composed a political Philosophy based entirely on the premise that every individual is a king, and whose only conclusion would have been practically anarchistic state’’3. Clearly being a near anarchistic and ardent nationalist at the same time, may indicate that Jabotinsky had a complicated, multi-dimensional political thinking, and he was driven by different intellectual motivations, though it is obvious, that for him, the desire to establish a Jewish state over the historic land of Israel was the paramount consideration. Yet, the man with his prolific, open-minded political thinking, gave an example, and was a source of inspiration to his followers, to the extent, that a gamut of political groups sprung from the original Revisionist movement. Some of them went a long distance away from his original teachings4. 1 A Shlaim, The iron wall: Israel and the Arab world, W. W. Norton, New York, 2000, p. 11 2 600 Zionist leaders from 18 countries attended the conference at the Biltmore Hotel in NYC from 6 to 11 May 1942, and declared that ’’Palestine be established as a Jewish commonwealth’’. 3 R, Bilski Ben-Hur, Every individual a king, Bnai Brith, Washington, DC, 1993 4 Among the offsprings of the Revisionist movement we can find the Kanaanites led by Yonathan Retosh, Jozef Olmert 139 The unison between Jewish nationalism and Liberal thinking is best illustrated by his ideas regarding the role of non-Jews in the independent Jewish state. Here are the key words of a famous song written by Jabotinsky;’‘’Sham yirwe lo meshefa vaosher, ben Arav, ben Nazereth ubni’’(“There they will live in affluence and joy, the Arab [referring to the Muslim-J.O], the Christian and my son”). As is so clear from his writings, Jabotinsky believed that there should be a clear Jewish majority, with an Arab minority, whose full rights are to be protected. For him, granting full rights meant absolute equality between all the people, regardless of their ethnic and religious differences. He specifically refered to linguistic equality, something of major importance for him, as he attached great significance to the centrality of the Hebrew language in the overall process of Jewish national revival. So, what was important to Jews was also important to Arabs. But the teacher went far beyond that. He specifically envisaged a situation whereby an Arab could fill every position in a Jewish state, even President or P.M .There was no need for any statement of loyalty on behalf of Arabs, and no other litmus test to prove it. The concept of fully –equal citizenship was dominant in his mind, and stood on its own feet. This is where his ideas about Liberal-Democracy and Jewish nationalism merged into one coherent concept, rather than collide with each other. What tends to emphasize this point, is the fact, that Jabotinsky, being an intellectually honest person as well as an unabashed Jewish nationalist was still ready to acknowledge the existence and force of Palestinian-Arab nationalism, much before many Zionist leaders, particularly from the Labor movement, came to that conclusion. Still, while recognizing the possibility of a perpetual national struggle between two competing national movements, as is so clearly exemplified in his ‘’Iron Wall‘’ concept, he clung adamantly to his belief in complete equality of Arabs in a Jewish state. In fact, the need for such equality was part of his concept of ‘’ Iron Wall’’, which was not only based on physical force, but also on moral justification5. Ze’ev Jabotinsky was not a religious Jew, and his basic, fundamental reference to the important question of state and religion was primarily determined by his liberal approach. Initially, Jabotinsky’s views reflected the primacy of nationalism ,writing that ’’Judaism is a nation, not a religious community’’6, though never expressing rejection of the Jewish religion, he also spelled out the fear that ‘’a fierce clash of cultures is inevitable in this land (Eretz Israel-J.O)’’7. At a much later stage in his career, he changed the tenor of his thinking, though not the basic premise. According to the founding document of the New Zionist Organization, in 1935, he called for a Jewish state, ‘’established in the spirit of the Torah of Israel’’8. He then wrote a letter to his son Eri, in which he explained that there would not be secular Hebrew nationalists as Hillel Kook, Left-Wing supporters of Palestinian state such as Nathan Yellin Mor, messianic nationalists such Dr.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Israel's National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
    Leap of Faith: Israel’s National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict Middle East Report N°147 | 21 November 2013 International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Recommendations..................................................................................................................... iv I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Religious Zionism: From Ascendance to Fragmentation ................................................ 5 A. 1973: A Turning Point ................................................................................................ 5 B. 1980s and 1990s: Polarisation ................................................................................... 7 C. The Gaza Disengagement and its Aftermath ............................................................. 11 III. Settling the Land .............................................................................................................. 14 A. Bargaining with the State: The Kookists ................................................................... 15 B. Defying the State: The Hilltop Youth ........................................................................ 17 IV. From the Hills to the State ..............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Founding Principles of the Communist Party of Israel
    The Founding Principles of the Communist Party of Israel CPI The Communist Party of Israel established in this land in the year 1919, when Palestine was under the rule of the British Mandate. At that time, a group of comrades established the Workers' Socialist Party, which in turn became the Palestinian Communist Party. In 1948, after the founding of the state of Israel, the party changed its name into the Communist Party of Israel. Throughout its history the comrades of the CPI, Jews and Arabs alike, have and continue to work for peace, equality, democracy, the rights of workers and women, and for the establishment of a socialist society. The Communist Party created for and acts as a force of deep social transformation, a force whose goal is the establishment of a different society. In the beginning of the third millennia, this change is desperately needed: The late capitalism is a regime characterized by deep and structural contradictions, injustices, the destruction of the ecosystem on a global level, the erosion of workers' accomplishments, and a global order centered on American imperialism. The globalization of the rule of capital cannot solve the social crisis; it is its main cause. The Communist Party of Israel fights for socialism- a humanist and democratic society of social justice. Socialism is a revolutionary social change that replaces capitalism- the regime of class exploitation- the exploitation of man by man. Socialism is the rule of the working class; social ownership over the major means of production, along with democratic institutions of planning and oversight for the benefit of all of society; a high quality of living and the rising material and cultural quality of life; national and ethnic equality; equality of rights for women in the society, the workplace and the family; pluralism of opinions, organizations and parties, alongside expanding democracy in politics, society and the economy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lost Decade of the Israeli Peace Camp
    The Lost Decade of the Israeli Peace Camp By Ksenia Svetlova Now that Israeli annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is a commonplace notion, it seems almost impossible that just twelve years ago, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) were making significant progress in the US-sponsored bilateral peace negotiations. Since then, the stalemate in the talks has become the new normal, under three consecutive governments headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. The Palestinians, led by Mahmoud Abbas and his government, have been cast as “diplomatic terrorists” for asking the international community for help. The Israeli peace camp has been subjected to a vicious smear campaign that has shaken its self-esteem and ruined its chances of winning over the public. This systematic smearing of Israeli and Palestinian two-staters has paid off. In the April 2019 elections, Israel’s progressive Meretz party teetered on the edge of the electoral barrier while Labor, once the ruling party, gained only six mandates (5% of the votes). The centrist Blue and White, a party led by ex-army chief Benny Gantz, carefully avoided any mention of loaded terms such as “the two-state solution” or “evacuation of settlements”, only calling vaguely to “advance peace” – as part of Israel’s new political vocabulary, which no longer includes “occupation” or even “the West Bank”. Despite offering no clear alternative to the peace option it managed to successfully derail, the Israeli right under Netanyahu has been in power for over a decade in a row, since 2009. Israel’s left-wing parties are fighting to survive; the Palestinians are continuing their fruitless efforts to engage the international community; and the horrid reality of a single state, in which different groups have different political and civil rights, seems just around the corner.
    [Show full text]
  • How Palestinians Can Burst Israel's Political Bubble
    Al-Shabaka Policy Brief Policy Al-Shabaka March 2018 WHEN LEFT IS RIGHT: HOW PALESTINIANS CAN BURST ISRAEL’S POLITICAL BUBBLE By Amjad Iraqi Overview the allies holding up his fragile rule, from the ultra- orthodox Jewish parties to his personal rivals within Although no indictments have been issued yet, Israelis Likud. “King Bibi,” however, survived them all. A are speculating whether the latest developments in skilled politician, he has been adept at managing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption Israel’s notoriously volatile coalition system, and [email protected] scandals finally mark the beginning of his political has remained in power with three consecutive demise. The second-longest serving prime minister governments over nine years – each more right wing after David Ben-Gurion, Netanyahu has had a than the last.2 profound impact on Israel’s political scene since the 1990s. It is therefore troubling, especially to Netanyahu directly influenced the country’s media Palestinians, that if these corruption cases are the landscape by shaping the editorial stance of Israel harbinger of Netanyahu’s downfall, they will have Hayom (the nation’s gratis, most-read newspaper, had nothing to do with the more egregious crimes for funded by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson), which he is responsible, and for which he – and future and used the Communications Ministry to threaten Israeli leaders – have yet to be held accountable. and harass media outlets that were critical of him. Despite crises and condemnations throughout This policy brief analyzes Israel’s political his career – including mass Israeli protests for transformations under Netanyahu and maps out the socioeconomic justice in 2011 and, more recently, current leadership contenders from a Palestinian weekly protests against widespread government perspective.1 It argues that Israel’s insular political corruption – Netanyahu withstood public pressures discourse, and the increasing alignment of Israeli to step down.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel: Background and U.S
    Israel: Background and U.S. Relations in Brief Updated September 20, 2019 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R44245 SUMMARY R44245 Israel: Background and U.S. Relations in Brief September 20, 2019 The following matters are of particular significance to U.S.-Israel relations: Jim Zanotti Israel’s ability to address threats. Israel relies on a number of strengths—including Specialist in Middle regional conventional military superiority—to manage potential threats to its security, Eastern Affairs including evolving asymmetric threats such as rockets and missiles, cross-border tunneling, drones, and cyberattacks. Additionally, Israel has an undeclared but presumed nuclear weapons capability. Against a backdrop of strong bilateral cooperation, Israel’s leaders and supporters routinely make the case that Israel’s security and the broader stability of the region remain critically important for U.S. interests. A 10-year bilateral military aid memorandum of understanding (MOU)— signed in 2016—commits the United States to provide Israel $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing annually from FY2019 to FY2028, along with additional amounts from Defense Department accounts for missile defense. All of these amounts remain subject to congressional appropriations. Some Members of Congress criticize various Israeli actions and U.S. policies regarding Israel. In recent months, U.S. officials have expressed some security- related concerns about China-Israel commercial activity. Iran and the region. Israeli officials seek to counter Iranian regional influence and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In April 2018, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presented historical information about Iran’s nuclear program that Israeli intelligence apparently seized from an Iranian archive.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 Annual Report
    Research. Debate. Impact. 2016 ANNUAL REPORT 1 Table of Contents Message from the President and the Chairman of the Board 4 Sixth Meeting of IDI's International Advisory Council 8 The Center for Democratic Values and Institutions 11 The Center for Religion, Nation and State 23 The Center for Governance and the Economy 29 The Center for Security and Democracy 35 The Guttman Center for Surveys and Public Policy Research 41 IDI in the Media 47 Our Team 50 Our Leaders 51 Our Partners 52 Financials 53 Message from the President and the Chairman of the Board Dear Friends, 2016 was a year of change and upheaval throughout the jobs available to Haredim. The government adopted most of democratic world. Set against the tumult of Brexit and the the recommendations and is now in the process of allocating US elections, Israel seemed at times like an island of stability. a half-billion-shekel budget in line with these proposals. This However, under the surface, Israeli society is changing, and IDI success story illustrates the potential of turning relatively small took on a leading role in identifying those changes and working philanthropic investments into large-scale transformational with policymakers to address them. change by affecting policy and legislation on the basis of outstanding applied research. As the report that follows lays out, 2016 was a year rich in activity and achievements. In this letter, we have chosen to single Several new scholars joined our team in 2016. Ms. Daphna out the impact one program had on government policy in the Aviram-Nitzan, former director of research for the Israel employment area.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparing Netanyahu and Ben-Gurion
    Comparing Netanyahu and Ben-Gurion by Prof. Shmuel Sandler BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,272, August 30, 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In a recent landmark, Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, surpassing the tenure of David Ben-Gurion. A comparison of the two PMs’ leadership reveals points of both similarity and difference. Both leaders, even in the views of their opponents, left a major impact on the country and the society. Let us begin with a basic assumption: comparing the figure of any leader, however successful, with that of a “founding father” inevitably puts that leader at a disadvantage. Founding fathers of Ben-Gurion’s ilk – such as George Washington, Kamal Atatürk, or Mao Zedong – are generally given a kind of immunity by biographers and other agents of memory, and harsh criticisms are rare. Because Netanyahu is still serving as PM and presumably will continue to do so, only a limited perspective can be offered. The most obvious point of similarity between the two leaders is an almost total devotion to Israel’s security. While the security of the country has been a key factor for all the PMs in Israel’s history, for these two leaders, existential security was the ultimate consideration. And in the same context: the nuclear issue. Ben-Gurion began to deal with the nuclear option as soon as he decided to establish the state. His realization that, in such a hostile environment, Israel could not remain viable over time without the ultimate deterrent became a fundamental plank of the country’s national- security concept.
    [Show full text]
  • SELECTED ARTICLES of INTEREST in RECENT VOLUMES of the AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK American Jewish Fiction Turns Inward, Sylvia Ba
    SELECTED ARTICLES OF INTEREST IN RECENT VOLUMES OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK American Jewish Fiction Turns Inward, Sylvia Barack Fishman 1960-1990 91:35-69 American Jewish Museums: Trends and Issues Ruth R. Seldin 91:71-113 Anti-Semitism in Europe Since the Holocaust Robert S. Wistrich 93:3-23 Counting Jewish Populations: Methods and Paul Ritterband, Barry A. Problems Kosmin, and Jeffrey Scheckner 88:204-221 Current Trends in American Jewish Jack Wertheimer 97:3-92 Philanthropy Ethiopian Jews in Israel Steven Kaplan and Chaim Rosen 94:59-109 Ethnic Differences Among Israeli Jews: A New U.O. Schmelz, Sergio Look DellaPergola, and Uri Avner 90:3-204 Herzl's Road to Zionism Shlomo Avineri 98:3-15 The Impact of Feminism on American Jewish Sylvia B. Fishman 89:3-62 Life Israel at 50: An American Perspective Arnold M. Eisen 98:47-71 Israel at 50: An Israeli Perspective Yossi Klein Halevi 98:25-46 Israeli Literature and the American Reader Alan Mintz 97:93-114 Israelis in the United States Steven J. Gold and Bruce A. Phillips 96:51-101 Jewish Experience on Film—An American Joel Rosenberg 96:3-50 Overview Jewish Identity in Conversionary and Mixed Peter Y. Medding, Gary A. Marriages Tobin, Sylvia Barack Fishman, and Mordechai Rimor 92:3-76 719 720 / AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK, 1999 Jewish Organizational Life in the Jack Wertheimer 95:3-98 United States Since 1945 Jewish Theology in North America: Arnold Eisen 91:3-33 Notes on Two Decades Jews in the European Community: Sergio DellaPergola 93:25-82 Sociodemographic Trends and Challenges New Perspectives in American Jewish Nathan Glazer 87:3-19 Sociology The Population of Reunited Jerusalem, U.O.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel and Overseas: Israeli Election Primer 2015 (As Of, January 27, 2015) Elections • in Israel, Elections for the Knesset A
    Israel and Overseas: Israeli Election Primer 2015 (As of, January 27, 2015) Elections In Israel, elections for the Knesset are held at least every four years. As is frequently the case, the outgoing government coalition collapsed due to disagreements between the parties. As a result, the Knesset fell significantly short of seeing out its full four year term. Knesset elections in Israel will now be held on March 17, 2015, slightly over two years since the last time that this occurred. The Basics of the Israeli Electoral System All Israeli citizens above the age of 18 and currently in the country are eligible to vote. Voters simply select one political party. Votes are tallied and each party is then basically awarded the same percentage of Knesset seats as the percentage of votes that it received. So a party that wins 10% of total votes, receives 10% of the seats in the Knesset (In other words, they would win 12, out of a total of 120 seats). To discourage small parties, the law was recently amended and now the votes of any party that does not win at least 3.25% of the total (probably around 130,000 votes) are completely discarded and that party will not receive any seats. (Until recently, the “electoral threshold,” as it is known, was only 2%). For the upcoming elections, by January 29, each party must submit a numbered list of its candidates, which cannot later be altered. So a party that receives 10 seats will send to the Knesset the top 10 people listed on its pre-submitted list.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's Nation-State
    NO. 41 OCTOBER 2018 Introduction Israel’s Nation-State Law Netanyahu Government Lays the Foundations for a Majoritarian System Peter Lintl and Stefan Wolfrum On 19 July 2018, the Israeli parliament passed legislation known as the nation-state law. It is highly controversial in Israel as well as internationally, although strictly speaking there is little new contained in it. Its advocates emphasise that it merely gives expression to existing realities. Critics argue that the law discriminates against minorities, runs counter to democratic values and, in particular, undermines the principle of equality. The debate reveals the social tension in Israel between its ‘Jewish’ and ‘democratic’ identity. In addition, it becomes clear that the main sup- porters of the law on the government side have more far-reaching intentions than its wording suggests. Their aim is to place Jewish collective rights above individual rights and freedoms. The law is, therefore, also a manifestation of current govern- ment policy aimed at leading Israel away from a more liberal democracy and towards a majoritarian democracy. In particular, this policy affects the Supreme Court as a defender of liberal principles. Israel does not have a constitution, instead The law has been a long time coming. it has a set of basic laws that have consti- Since 2011, a variety of different drafts tutional status. This is because since the have been discussed in the Knesset. There state was founded in 1948, there has never was widespread support among the Zionist been any agreement on what precisely the parties for the need to establish the Jewish “Jewish” in the Jewish state is supposed to nation-state character in Israel’s Basic Law.
    [Show full text]
  • Reprieve in Bedouin Removal Plan?
    Reprieve in Bedouin removal plan? Having narrowly passed the first of three parliamentary “readings” (debates & votes), the Prawer-Begin Bill had been wending its gradual way through the Knesset approval process. As a law, it would forcibly relocate 30-40,000 Negev Bedouin (all citizens of Israel) from about 25 unrecognized villages into seven Bedouin towns and possibly other locations in the Negev. About two weeks ago, thousands of Bedouin and their supporters (including Palestinians in the territories and Jewish-Israeli activists) demonstrated in a “Day of Rage” against the pending legislation. Benny Begin PPI has been involved in this issue, and some of us have spent the last week formulating additional measures to oppose Prawer-Begin. The other day, we suddenly learned from an article in Haaretz that Israel’s governing coalition is likely to withdraw the bill, ostensibly because Benny Begin (son of Menachem Begin and a former Likud MK and cabinet minister) has revealed that he did not consult with Bedouin community leaders on the final format of the bill, as people had previously believed. This episode in Israel’s dealings with its Bedouin citizens in the Negev has been a public relations disaster, but the scrapping of this bill does not necessarily mean a more positive turn in Jewish-Bedouin and Jewish-Arab relations within the country. The following statements, quoted in Haaretz, are ominous in tone: This is what Yariv Levin, chair of the governing coalition in the Knesset, had to say: The present bill should be changed significantly. I’m willing to be generous to the Bedouin that would immediately agree to join the process.
    [Show full text]
  • Likud Places a Strong Emphasis on Security and Presents
    IDEOLOGICAL STATED POLITICAL POSITIONS PARTY PARTY LEADER ORIENTATION AND KEY FACTS Likud Benjamin Netanyahu Right Likud places a strong emphasis on security (Prime Minister) and presents Prime Minister Netanyahu as the only viable leader with a proven track record on security. Netanyahu has been on record in 2009 in support of the two-state solution although more recently he has displayed ambivalence. The party has a fiscally conservative economic agenda, though this is secondary to security-diplomatic issues. United Right Rafi Peretz Right Comprised of Jewish Home, the National Union, and Jewish Power, the party includes religious-Zionists and territorial nationalists, is staunchly opposed to a Palestinian state, and actively promotes the expansion of settlements and Israeli annexation of Area C in the West Bank. In December 2018, party leader Naftali Bennett announced he and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked would be leaving to form The New Right. In February 2019, the Jewish Home formed a technical merger with Jewish Power, who are adherents to the teachings of Meir Kahane. Kahane’s party Kach were banned from the Knesset in the 1980s for racism. Hayemin Hachadash Naftali Bennett Right New party formed by former Jewish Home (Education Minister) & (The New Right) ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Ayelet Shaked Shaked due to their long-held ambition to (Justice Minister) win more secular, middle-class Israeli voters – a mission hampered by Jewish Home’s affiliation with the National- Religious sector and the influence of settler Rabbis. Bennett and Shaked are opposed to a two- state solution, support the expansion of settlements and Israeli annexation of Area C in the West Bank Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman Right Nationalist party dominated by its leader, (former Defence (Israel is our home) Avigdor Lieberman.
    [Show full text]