National Religious Parties Unite
National Religious Parties Unite

Tekumah, Moledet, and Achi - which together made up the National Union party - together with the decades-old National Religious Party have now merged into one united party - more or less.

The parties have long been united into one Knessset list, which won nine seats in the last Knesset elections, but now they will be one official party. Two of the current nine MKs are not planning to join, however.



MK Effie Eitam, who started the Achi faction last year, has announced plans to join the Likud, and MK Aryeh Eldad of Moledet has not yet specified his preference. Eldad is the only non-kippah (skullcap) wearer of the nine, and he has expressed concern that he will not be able to have a genuine influence on party policy.

The historic new party, which is hoping to decide on its name in the coming days, was announced by several of the incumbent party Knesset Members at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday.

MK Tzvi Hendel, a former resident of Gush Katif, opened the press conference by reviewing the general malaise that Israeli society is undergoing in terms of education and values. He stated that the party will place education at the top of its priorities, as the National Religious Party (NRP) traditionally did.

The new party's list of Knesset candidates will be determined by a council of public figures from the religious-Zionist camp. The party leader will be chosen afterwards in public primaries.

"This move will save the soul of the nation," said MK Zevulun Orlev, the head of the NRP. "Whoever identifies with the values of the national religious camp is invited to join."

Relating to the differences between the various streams and movements in the national-religious camp, Orlev said, "These are no longer as great as they once were, and our common values are the basis for our common path that can unite at least 70% of the religious-Zionist camp in the country."

Total unity is apparently out of reach, however. Baruch Marzel, who headed the joint National Jewish Front-Herut list in the last elections, is considering running again as head of a separate list.  He told IsraelNationalNews, however, that he is open to an invitation from the new party heads to field a candidate from his party - even if he himself is not that candidate.  In the last elections, his party garnered nearly 25,000 votes - less than half of the necessary minimum for Knesset representation; it is debatable whether the party's run cost the NRP-NU a Knesset seat.

Other competitors for the national-religious camp are the Likud, which features religious candidates such as Eitam, Moshe Feiglin, Yuli Edelstein and others, and a new right-wing secular party that will apparently be started by Aryeh Eldad.