National Religious Party
The National Religious Party, commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew abbreviation Mafdal, was an Israeli political party representing the interests of the Israeli settlers and 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 Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992. Originally a pragmatic centrist party in its first two decades of existence, it gradually leaned rightward in the following years, particularly becoming increasingly associated with Israeli settlers. Towards the end of its existence, it became part of a far-right political alliance centered around the National Union.
The 2006 elections saw the party slump to just three seats, the worst electoral performance in its history. In November 2008, party members voted to disband the party in order to join the new Jewish Home party created by a merger of the NRP and most of the National Union factions. However, most of the National Union left the merger shortly after its implementation.
Ideological background
The religious Zionist movement is an Orthodox Jewish faction within the broader Zionist movement, combining a belief in the importance of establishing a Jewish state in the Land of Israel following a religious way of life, in contrast to both secular Zionists and ultra-Orthodox Jewry. The spiritual and ideological founder of the Religious Zionist movement was the Ashkenazi rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who urged young religious Jews to settle in Israel and called upon the secular Labor Zionists to pay more attention to Judaism. Rabbi Kook saw Zionism as part of a divine scheme that would result in resettling the Jewish people in the Holy Land, and, ultimately, the coming of the Jewish Messiah.History
Origins
The National Religious Party was created by the merger of two parties - Mizrachi and Hapoel HaMizrachi - in 1956. The two parties had run for the 1955 election on a joint list under the name of the National Religious Front. Even after the formation of the NRP as a single party, its lists used the National Religious Front name up to the 1992 election, with the NRP's own name only debuting on the ballot in 1988. The founders of the party were Yosef Burg and Haim-Moshe Shapira, who focused their activity mainly on the status of Judaism within the framework of Israeli society. Throughout the NRP's existence, it attempted to preserve the relevance of Judaism on issues such as Israeli personal status laws, education, culture, and municipal issues such as prohibitions on the selling of non-Kosher food, and prohibiting transportation and public activities on Shabbat.The NRP operated a trade union, a newspaper, and a youth movement. 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 Six-Day War spawned messianic trends among religious Israeli Jews that resulted in many members of the NRP moving further right. After Israel gained control of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Haim Moshe Shapira, the leader of the NRP and member of the Israel cabinet, believed that Israel should aggressively pursue peace talks with Arab states and supported immediate negotiations with Jordan over the status of holy sites in Jerusalem. However, the party became internally divided around the annexation of the occupied territories. Some factions favored withdrawing from the occupied territories in the event of a peace agreement, while others argued that it was a religious obligation to annex the territories.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 Knesset. In 1981, it shrank to 6 members. The reasons were diverse: an overall reduction in its natural voting population; the political moderation of many Orthodox Jews; its turn towards the right-wing; the growing importance of the right-left schism in Israeli politics; and the rise of Orthodox Sephardic parties such as Tami and later Shas.
The Gesher – Zionist Religious Center faction was formed on 29 May 1984, during the 10th Knesset, when two MKs, Yehuda Ben-Meir and Zevulun Hammer, broke away from the NRP. Both were prominent members of the party, with Hammer serving as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport and Ben-Meir being Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The faction took the Gesher part of its name from the youth faction within the NRP. The faction did not last long, as the two returned to the NRP on 12 June. Ben-Meir later left the NRP again to be one of the founding members of the left-wing religious party Meimad, whilst Hammer went on to become leader of the NRP.
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.
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-terror operations.
- 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.
Disengagement plan
Sharon's disengagement plan caused great controversy within the party. Sharon dismissed two cabinet ministers from the National Union to achieve a majority for approving the plan in his government. The NRP declared that it was resisting the plan and any removal of Jews living in Gush Katif. The party, together with the Likud right-wing, failed to stop the disengagement plan.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 - who had resisted Sharon's plan and saw themselves uncommitted to the coalition and government.
- The Coalition - 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.
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.
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 Renewed Religious National Zionist Party (now renamed Ahi, on 23 February. The new party became part of the National Union, an alliance of Moledet and Tkuma - itself a former right-wing faction of the NRP. At the time, the National Union also included the Russian-secular Yisrael Beiteinu party, though they chose to run alone in the 2006 elections.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 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." 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.