National Union (Israel)

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The National Union (Hebrew: האיחוד הלאומי, HaIkhud HaLeumi) is a right wing political party in Israel and consists of an alliance of Moledet, Tkuma and the Renewed Religious National Zionist party.

1 Background
2 Platform
3 Knesset members
4 External links

[edit] Background

The National Union was formed in 1999 to fight the elections of that year as an alliance between Moledet, Tkuma and Herut, winning won four seats. In 2001 the party's support was almost doubled by the addition of the predominantly Russian-immigrant party, Israel Beytenu.

After Ariel Sharon won the 2001 Prime Ministerial elections, the party were brought into the National Unity Government and party leader Rehavam Zeevi was appointed Minister of Tourism, with Israel Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman made Minister of National Infrastructure. When Zeevi was assassinated on 17 October, 2001, Binyamin Elon (Moledet) took his ministerial position whilst Lieberman became head of the party.

Before the 2003 elections Herut decided to fight the election alone and left the alliance. After winning seven seats, the party was included in Ariel Sharon's coalition alongside Likud, Shinui, the National Religious Party and Israel Ba-Aliya. Elon and Lieberman were appointed Minister of Tourism and Minister of Transportation respectively.

Because of opposition to the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (particularly because Tkuma member Zvi Hendel lived in the Gaza settlement of Gush Katif), National Union ministers Binyamin Elon and Avigdor Lieberman were sacked, the former after attempting to avoid his fate by going into hiding, and the party left the coalition.

However, the National Union was bolstered by the addition of the Renewed Religious National Zionist party which had split off from the National Religious Party when they decided to remain in the coalition. After the disengagement plan, the party adopted the orange colour as its banner, stating that it represented the Jewish Zionist spirit of the ideological and pure youth of Religious Zionism which rallied under the color to protest against the plan.

2006 campaign ads with the slogan New right rising

In 2005 Israel Beytenu left the alliance to fight the 2006 elections on its own. The party also lost MK Michael Nudelman to Kadima. At the last minute the National Religious Party decided to join with National Union on a joint list called National Union - NRP, with the party adopting more social policies and winning the support of the chief rabbis of the Religious Zionist Movement (such as Rabbi Abraham Shapira) as well as the Union of Handicapped (thanks to the NRP's pro-handicapped legistlation). The joint list used the slogan New right rising (Hebrew: ימין חדש עולה, Yamin Hadash Oleh) and won nine seats, of which the National Union took six.

[edit] Platform

The party has a joint platform, and in particular it supports the settlement of all the Land of Israel, advocates the use of more military power in the War on terror and harsher measures against Palestinian terrorism. It rejects all current Oslo-based peace efforts - which they see as dangerous to Israel, the notion of a Palestinian state, and advocates voluntary transfer of the Palestinians. However, on the rhetoric level, its three constituents retain their unique identity:

Moledet focuses on the notion of transfer and more generally national security issues. It prides itself on being composed equally of secular and religious elements, although its members are sympathetic to NRP views.
Tkuma represents the religious side. While not actively opposing the Israel Beytenu dominated platform, it uses Jewish religious motives and argumentation to advance the union's common ground.
The Renewed National Religious Zionist party represent the National-Ultra-Orthodox faction of the national-religious public in Israel. They put focus on supporting the settlements, fighting terrorism and corruption and reestablishing the high-status of Religious Zionism.