The National Union and National Religious Party overcame large hurdles in order to merge six weeks ago, thus avoiding the mutual recriminations that each would have heaped on the other during the election campaign. Though they share the same basic guidelines - which can be summed up as "The People of Israel in the Land of Israel according to the Torah of Israel" - they are running essentially separate political campaigns.
MK Benny Elon, who heads the joint list, explained to Arutz-7 today that the dual nature of the campaign is manifest both organizationally and in terms of the political messages. "But our overall goal is the same," he said, "and that is to head a united front of parties that will be an alternative to the left-wing Olmert/Labor coalition."
Asked if most of his efforts during this campaign are on behalf of his party, or for the sake of the right-wing bloc, MK Elon said,
"It's a good question, because in fact we have two goals: to be the largest party within this bloc, and to make sure that it is strong and powerful so that it can be a real alternative. At the start of this electoral campaign, our parties attacked each other a lot, such as the Likud against Yisrael Beiteinu, and the like. I felt that this was very damaging, and I tried to change this, and I feel that these efforts have borne fruit, and we are realizing that we have to work in a more united way. After all, our common enemy is the feeling of despair among many of our voters, and the feeling that they are fed up with politics. The margins between the parties do not encourage people to come and vote - but when we present it as a race between the party blocs, and when they see that the gaps are narrowing, this wakes up people and they will realize that they have to get out and vote. We are trying to drum it in: Every vote makes a difference."
Arutz-7 asked, "If the religious/nationalist bloc does not get 61 seats, will you view this as a failure?"
Elon: "If we don't get 61, we will no longer have the power of a bloc. I won't be able to promise that individual parties will not join in with Kadima, claiming that they are restraining it in some way or another."
A-7: "What about a charter among you saying that no one joins a Kadima government without the other?"
Elon: "It won't work. Parties that want to join will say to me, 'Great, let's all join, who's stopping you from joining?'"
A-7: "What about within your party? Will the NRP not want to join a Kadima government?"
Elon: "We made sure, publicly and with signed commitments, that we would not split up for at least two years, and that neither side can join the government without the approval of our rabbis. [NRP head Zevulun] Orlev just said a few days ago that he would not sit in a government that uproots Jewish communities. Nothing is guaranteed, but I truly don't think that this will be an issue."
Uri Bank, #16 on the joint list of Knesset candidates, explained that another restraining factor is the fact that no matter how many Knesset seats the joint party wins, "the National Union always has the majority. Therefore, the NRP will not be able to split off without losing all its government funding - without which a party cannot exist."
MK Elon was quoted recently as saying that another "challenge" facing his party, and the right-wing bloc as a whole, is Baruch Marzel's Hazit [Jewish National Front] party. "In the last election, he wasted over 34,000 votes," Elon said, "and this time the minimum threshold will be close to 70,000 votes. It's impossible that he will reach this amount. If people want to vote for Shas, it's less of a problem for me, but if they vote for Marzel, that's simply throwing away votes. In 1992, when Rabin won and brought us Oslo, the right-wing had more votes than the left - but because of the various right-wing splinter parties we had and which didn't make it into the Knesset, the left ended up with more Knesset mandates - and Oslo was passed in the Knesset by one vote."
Waging the campaign while undergoing daily radiation treatments for his recently-diagnosed throat cancer, Elon explained why the NRP and NU are running basically separate campaigns:
"We have two main obstacles to overcome: despair and apathy among some of our voters, and those in both our camps who are not happy with our merger. Therefore, we need something that will get both of our voter groups to come out and vote for us - but this means two different messages. We both emphasize the same things, but in different proportions. Traditionally, we have emphasized Land of Israel and security issues, together with traditional Judaism, while the NRP puts the accent more on Jewish and social issues.
"For instance, they [the NRP] will talk about strengthening the Bnei Akiva youth movement and lowering yeshiva high school tuition, while we would talk about youth movements in general... Certainly, in terms of logistics and organization, we each have our ways of working, in terms of local chapters and knowing the voters, etc."
The nationalist camp of voters appears to be waking up. A poll this week by Brain Base, headed by Prof. Yitzchak Katz, finds that though only some 60% of the electorate says it will vote - a record-low turnout - that number is 90% among those who support the NU-NRP. Katz finds that the joint list could receive 11 Knesset seats; other polls have given it only 8-9.
MK Benny Elon, who heads the joint list, explained to Arutz-7 today that the dual nature of the campaign is manifest both organizationally and in terms of the political messages. "But our overall goal is the same," he said, "and that is to head a united front of parties that will be an alternative to the left-wing Olmert/Labor coalition."
Asked if most of his efforts during this campaign are on behalf of his party, or for the sake of the right-wing bloc, MK Elon said,
"It's a good question, because in fact we have two goals: to be the largest party within this bloc, and to make sure that it is strong and powerful so that it can be a real alternative. At the start of this electoral campaign, our parties attacked each other a lot, such as the Likud against Yisrael Beiteinu, and the like. I felt that this was very damaging, and I tried to change this, and I feel that these efforts have borne fruit, and we are realizing that we have to work in a more united way. After all, our common enemy is the feeling of despair among many of our voters, and the feeling that they are fed up with politics. The margins between the parties do not encourage people to come and vote - but when we present it as a race between the party blocs, and when they see that the gaps are narrowing, this wakes up people and they will realize that they have to get out and vote. We are trying to drum it in: Every vote makes a difference."
Arutz-7 asked, "If the religious/nationalist bloc does not get 61 seats, will you view this as a failure?"
Elon: "If we don't get 61, we will no longer have the power of a bloc. I won't be able to promise that individual parties will not join in with Kadima, claiming that they are restraining it in some way or another."
A-7: "What about a charter among you saying that no one joins a Kadima government without the other?"
Elon: "It won't work. Parties that want to join will say to me, 'Great, let's all join, who's stopping you from joining?'"
A-7: "What about within your party? Will the NRP not want to join a Kadima government?"
Elon: "We made sure, publicly and with signed commitments, that we would not split up for at least two years, and that neither side can join the government without the approval of our rabbis. [NRP head Zevulun] Orlev just said a few days ago that he would not sit in a government that uproots Jewish communities. Nothing is guaranteed, but I truly don't think that this will be an issue."
Uri Bank, #16 on the joint list of Knesset candidates, explained that another restraining factor is the fact that no matter how many Knesset seats the joint party wins, "the National Union always has the majority. Therefore, the NRP will not be able to split off without losing all its government funding - without which a party cannot exist."
MK Elon was quoted recently as saying that another "challenge" facing his party, and the right-wing bloc as a whole, is Baruch Marzel's Hazit [Jewish National Front] party. "In the last election, he wasted over 34,000 votes," Elon said, "and this time the minimum threshold will be close to 70,000 votes. It's impossible that he will reach this amount. If people want to vote for Shas, it's less of a problem for me, but if they vote for Marzel, that's simply throwing away votes. In 1992, when Rabin won and brought us Oslo, the right-wing had more votes than the left - but because of the various right-wing splinter parties we had and which didn't make it into the Knesset, the left ended up with more Knesset mandates - and Oslo was passed in the Knesset by one vote."
Waging the campaign while undergoing daily radiation treatments for his recently-diagnosed throat cancer, Elon explained why the NRP and NU are running basically separate campaigns:
"We have two main obstacles to overcome: despair and apathy among some of our voters, and those in both our camps who are not happy with our merger. Therefore, we need something that will get both of our voter groups to come out and vote for us - but this means two different messages. We both emphasize the same things, but in different proportions. Traditionally, we have emphasized Land of Israel and security issues, together with traditional Judaism, while the NRP puts the accent more on Jewish and social issues.
"For instance, they [the NRP] will talk about strengthening the Bnei Akiva youth movement and lowering yeshiva high school tuition, while we would talk about youth movements in general... Certainly, in terms of logistics and organization, we each have our ways of working, in terms of local chapters and knowing the voters, etc."
The nationalist camp of voters appears to be waking up. A poll this week by Brain Base, headed by Prof. Yitzchak Katz, finds that though only some 60% of the electorate says it will vote - a record-low turnout - that number is 90% among those who support the NU-NRP. Katz finds that the joint list could receive 11 Knesset seats; other polls have given it only 8-9.