Knesset Member Uri Orbach of the Jewish Home visited Beit El Thursday as the guest of National Union Chairman MK Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz and of the Local Authority Head, Moshe Rosenboim. The visit is the latest chapter in the two parties' continuing mutual courtship, which – it is hoped – will eventually lead to a formal merger.
The two MKs discussed practical steps for uniting the parties.
Orbach and Ketzaleh spoke before students at the Raayah Ulpana, a religious high school for girls, and before students at the Post High School Yeshiva (Yeshiva Gedola) and their educators.
They were guests at the home of Rabbi Zalman Melamed, the Rabbi of Beit El and Head of Educational Institutions in the community and one of the spiritual leaders of the National Union.
Reunion in the offing?
The visit comes precisely one month after MKs from the two religious-Zionist Knesset factions toured Jerusalem together, on their first mutual outing since the elections. They visited Machon Meir yeshiva in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem, and the Crisis Center for Religious Women.
The religious-Zionist camp has been split between a 'moderate' party and a 'nationalist' party for many years, but in late 2008 both the National Religious Party and the National Union agreed to disband for the purpose of forming the new “Jewish Home” party. However, the united list did not materialize due to disagreements about representation on the list of candidates.
The former National Union MKs left the Jewish Home party, re-created the NU, and asked Ketzaleh to lead them.
Left to right at Rabbi Zalman Melamed's home: Ketzaleh,
Rabbi Melamed, Orbach, Rabbi Chaim Katz