National Religious Party
National Religious Party מפד"ל | |
---|---|
center-left
1970s–1980s: right-wing
1990s–2008:Right-wing | |
Most MKs | 12 |
Fewest MKs | 3 (2006) |
Election symbol | |
Website | |
mafdal.org.il | |
The National Religious Party (Hebrew: מִפְלָגָה דָּתִית לְאֻומִּית, Miflaga Datit Leumit, commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Mafdal, מפד"ל) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement.
Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second-oldest surviving party in the country after
The
Religious Zionism: Background
The Religious Zionist movement is an
History
Origins
The National Religious Party (NRP) was created by the merger of two parties -
The NRP operated a trade union (under the same name as the old workers' party, Hapoel HaMizrachi), a newspaper (HaTzofe), and a youth movement (Bnei Akiva). Only the youth movement still exists today.
Post–Six-Day War
The seeds of change were sown in 1967, when Israel's victory in the
Around 1969, a new generation arose in the NRP, led by Zevulun Hammer and Yehuda Ben-Meir, called "the youth", demanding that the party pay more attention to socio-economic issues in addition to its concerns about Judaism and the modern state.
From its inception, the NRP maintained an almost constant number of 12 members of the Israeli
.The Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre (
The party was unique in that it participated in all the governments of Israel until 1992. During this period, it was a centrist party, interested mainly in religious matters and impervious to the left–right divisions of the Israeli public. The long-time cooperation between the Israeli Labor Party and the NRP is sometimes referred to as the Historic League (הברית ההיסטורית).
2003 government
The NRP was a member of the 2003 government led by Ariel Sharon, and had two ministers in the cabinet. Effi Eitam was the Minister of Housing, and Zevulun Orlev was the Minister of Labor and Welfare. Yitzhak Levy was a deputy minister responsible for the Ministry of Religious Affairs until it was dismantled.
The party helped form the previous government's coalition, together with the Likud, Shinui, and the National Union, which was based on the following principles:
- A hard-line policy against Palestinian terrorism and increasing use of the military for counter-terroroperations.
- Supporting the Road Map for Peace, but with the reservation that the Palestinians should stop terrorism and elect a democratic prime minister.
- Supporting the Israeli West Bank barrier, on condition that it will include the major settlement blocks in the West Bank.
- Finding a solution for those people who cannot marry according to Jewish law by creating something similar to a civil marriage.
- Drafting Haredi men for military service.
- Retaining the Jewish character of the state of Israel.
- Obligating the Shinui party not to act unilaterally in matters of state and religion, and that they would discuss the issues with the NRP and reach a compromise.
The party subsequently left the government and went into opposition.
Disengagement plan
Sharon's
Eventually, Effi Eitam and Yitzhak Levi resigned from the government. However, the four other Knesset Members of the NRP supported Orlev's stand that the party should remain in the coalition and thwart the disengagement plan from the inside.
The party's Knesset faction split into two:
- The Opposition (Eitam and Rabbi Levi) - who had resisted Sharon's plan and saw themselves uncommitted to the coalition and government.
- The Coalition (Orlev, Yahalom, Finkelstein) - had voted to stay in the coalition, but vowed to quit when a Jewish settlement was dismantled.
- Nisan Slomianski did not take a clear position, compromising between the two factions.
On 13 September 2004, the party's "center" (a forum of all party members with voting rights) voted on a choice between Effi Eitam's proposal of immediately resigning from the government and Zevulon Orlev's proposal to leave the government only when it approved an actual removal of settlements. Eitam and Orlev agreed that the center's decision would be binding.
It was decided that the NRP would resign from the government if:
- The government approved the dismantling of Israeli settlements.
- The Knesset passed laws of evacuation and compensation.
- The Labor Party joined the government and the coalition.
- A general referendum on the disengagement would not be held.
On 9 November 2004, after Ariel Sharon declined the NRP's demand to hold a national referendum regarding the disengagement, Zevulun Orlev and the party resigned from the coalition and the government, vowing to pursue general elections in an effort to replace Sharon with a right-wing prime minister. After their resignation, Sharon had a minority coalition of 56 Knesset members out of 120.
The split
On 14 February 2005, Eitam was suspended from the party chairmanship by the NRP's internal court, after he left the government against the center decision. Angered at the suspension, Eitam and Itzhak Levi announced that they had officially split from the NRP to form a new party, the
Alliance with the National Union
Due to their weakening, the NRP eventually decided to run on a joint list with the National Union for the 2006 election, which included Eitam and Levy on its list. The joint list went under the title of National Union – NRP (Hebrew: האיחוד הלאומי-מפדל, HaIhud HaLeumi – Mafdal) and won nine seats, of which the NRP were awarded three.
On 3 November 2008, the party announced a merger with the National Union, Tkuma, and Moledet to form a new right-wing party, later named The Jewish Home. Zevulun Orlev said it would be "unity by the Zionist religious camp. Anyone can submit his candidacy. There is no advantage whatsoever to current Knesset members."[8] On 18 November, NRP members voted to disband the party to join the new right-wing party created by a merger of the NRP and most of the National Union factions.[9]
Ideology
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in Israel |
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Main principles
The NRP was a Zionist party and stated that Israel was a "Jewish democratic state". The party's stated main goals were to contribute as much as it could to the state of Israel, and to influence its character to be more Jewish, as well as fighting for the protection of Israel and maintaining Israel's security.
The core belief "the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel" commits the NRP to doing everything possible to further the security and integrity of the Land of Israel. The NRP aspires to influence policy from "within the government", and thus continue to safeguard Eretz Israel.
Unlike the
The NRP emphasised national unity, and vowed to work as a bridge between the different parts of Israeli society.
Religious and secular, Sephardim and Askenazim, right and left, old-timers and new immigrants - we are all one people. The NRP works toward national unity, absorption of immigration, and bringing people together from all sectors of the population. Without hatred and coercion. Gently, pleasantly, and with a smile.
They called this principle Ahavat Israel (אהבת ישראל, "Love of Israel").
The party was the patron of most of the national religious schools (חינוך ממלכתי-דתי), which teach both Judaism and general mandatory educational subjects such as mathematics, English, literature, physics, biology, etc. It sponsored some pre-military schools that provide higher education to future IDF officers and commanders. Besides funding and patronizing national religious schools, it also supported Yeshiva schools and Beit Midrash schools, places dedicated solely to Torah study. They also ran Yeshivot Hesder, an idea developed by Rav Yehuda Amital in which religious soldiers combine combat military service with learning Torah. The Hesder program is typically five years.
The NRP actively promotes Torah in Israel and strengthens national religious institutions: Zionist rabbinical training institutes, Zionist Kollels, Yeshivot gevohot, Hesder Yeshivot, Yeshiva high schools, and more. The NRP encourages Zionist rabbis to take on active roles as teachers in Yeshivot, and as spiritual leaders in cities and neighborhoods.
The party believes that the land of Israel is holy and belongs to the Jews based on God's promise to Abraham, and later to Isaac and Jacob. They believe it is God's will to settle all the land of Israel and nurture it. This principle has great impact on NRP policy toward the West Bank and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[10]
Religion and state
The NRP's policy was that Israel ought to retain its special Jewish character and retain a vague commitment to Judaism.
The party argued that affairs of personal status, (such as
The NRP claimed that the Jewish state shows respect for the Jewish religion by observing the
The party, along with the other Orthodox political parties in Israel, wanted entrenchment into Israeli law so that
Regarding conversions to Judaism performed within Israel, the NRP found itself on the same side of the debate as the secular, and opposed to the views of the Haredi parties, particularly Shas. The party advocated that the
The issue of conscripting yeshiva students was a sensitive issue in the party's rhetoric. Historically, the NRP initiated the regulations allowing yeshiva students to avoid military service, and supported that position over a long time. This came into conflict with the party's ideology and its supporters as the party moved towards the center, and as the number of such students rose sharply leading to allegations that many were not really students. In the 2000s, the NRP explicitly stated that participation in the Israeli army was a Mitzvah and a moral obligation, and stressed that its "finest youth... serve in the elite commando and combat units in the IDF".
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the settlements
The NRP's views on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict can be summarized as:
- There will only be one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea—the State of Israel. No independent national Arab entity (such as a putative Palestinian state) will exist within these borders
- No part of Israel will be given over to a foreign government or authority.
However, the party did agree to giving the Palestinian Arabs self-governing autonomy, subject to Israel's authority only in matters of security and foreign affairs (such as in borders and diplomacy), without the dismantling of the Jewish settlements.
The NRP reacted to the
The NRP used mostly religious discourse to justify these positions. They stressed that the West Bank were parts of the ancient kingdom of Israel and kingdom of Judah, and hence, rightfully belong to modern Israel. Furthermore, the party viewed the Jewish settlements as an upholding of the mitzvah of settling the land of Israel. Many of its supporters and parliament members were settlers.
Social issues and welfare
The NRP did not adhere to an economic ideology (such as
Criticism
Some critics of the NRP said that it was too focused on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and that they neglected other issues such as education, social responsibility, and Ahavat Israel ("Love of Israel" i. e., of other Jews).
Left-wing critics insisted that the party's stubbornness about keeping the settlements was an "obstacle to peace", while right-wing critics said the NRP did not pressure the Israeli government enough to use more military force against
Critics from religious parties such as Shas and Agudat Israel scorned the NRP for having been in the governing coalition with an ultra-secular party like Shinui (which was often described as "anti-religious"), and for not doing enough to keep the Jewish character of Israel; in one example, the party displayed little, if any, resistance or dismay, against former Internal Minister Avraham Poraz's decision not to enforce the prohibition of selling bread during Passover (when eating bread is a prohibition of Chametz according to Orthodox Judaism).
Members and supporters
Supporters
NRP supporters were mainly Zionists, who are Orthodox Jews, in some ways Modern Orthodox.
- Wherever you look, you see them. Members of the national religious community, with the knitted kippot on their heads. In academia, in economic life, in the educational system, in high tech, medicine, the courts, the IDF, even in the media. Each one of them doing their bit of "kiddush HaShem" (sanctifying God) in daily endeavors.
Male religious Zionists can be recognized by their colorful hand-knitted kippah (כיפה, yarmulka or "skull cap"), hence their nickname: הכיפות הסרוגות (Ha-Kippot Ha-Srugot, lit. "The Knitted Yarmulkas").
Election results
Election | Leader | Votes | % | Position | Seats | +/– | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19551 | Haim-Moshe Shapira | 77,936 | 9.13 | 4th | 11 / 120
|
1 | Coalition |
1959 | 95,581 | 9.86 | 3rd | 12 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | |
1961 | 98,786 | 9.81 | 4th | 12 / 120
|
Coalition | ||
1965 | 107,966 | 8.95 | 3rd | 11 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | |
1969 | 133,238 | 9.74 | 3rd | 12 / 120
|
1 | Coalition | |
1973 | Yosef Burg | 130,349 | 8.32 | 3rd | 10 / 120
|
2 | Coalition (1974–1976) |
Opposition (1976–1977) | |||||||
1977 | 160,787 | 9.20 | 4th | 12 / 120
|
2 | Coalition | |
1981 | 92,232 | 4.80 | 3rd | 6 / 120
|
6 | Coalition | |
1984 | 73,530 | 3.55 | 4th | 4 / 120
|
2 | Coalition | |
1988 | Avner Hai Shaki
|
89,720 | 3.93 | 6th | 5 / 120
|
1 | Coalition |
1992 | Zevulun Hammer | 129,663 | 4.95 | 5th | 6 / 120
|
1 | Opposition |
1996 | 240,271 | 7.87 | 4th | 9 / 120
|
3 | Coalition | |
1999 | Yitzhak Levy | 140,307 | 4.24 | 8th | 5 / 120
|
4 | Coalition |
2003 | Effi Eitam | 132,370 | 4.20 | 7th | 6 / 120
|
1 | Coalition (2003–2004) |
Opposition (2004–2006) | |||||||
20062 | Zevulun Orlev | With Nation Union | 3 / 120
|
3 | Opposition |
Notes:
1 As National Religious Front, a coalition of Hapoel HaMizrachi (9 seats) and Mizrachi (3 seats), merged as a single party in 1956.
2 In joint list composed by the National Union (6 seats) and the NRP (3 seats).
See also
References
- ^ Yishai, Yael. “Israeli Annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights: Factors and Processes.” Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, 1985, pp. 45–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4283045. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.
- ^ "National Religious Party: Greater Israel, Religious Status Quo". Haaretz. 22 December 2002.
- ^ סטנוגרמה ישיבה י"ח/תשכ"ח של הממשלה ו' בטבת תשכ"ח 07/01/1968 [Transcript of the 18th meeting of the cabinet.] (Report). 7 January 1968. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
- JSTOR 4325020. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups Knesset website
- ^ מרכז המפד"ל - מלחמה [NRP Center – War] (in Hebrew). NRG Maariv. 12 September 2004. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ Nadav Shragai (14 September 2004). המפדל נשארת בקואליציה [NRP remain in coalition] (in Hebrew). Walla!News. Haaretz. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ Meranda, Amnon (3 November 2008). "Right-wing parties unite". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
- ^ Matthew Wagner (19 November 2008). "As NRP folds to create united front, signs of dissent emerge". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ "Mafdal". Mafdal website. Archived from the original on 7 March 2005.
External links
- Official website (in Hebrew)
- Party history Knesset website