MKs Eitam and Yitzchak Levy started the independent Knesset faction yesterday, announcing their resignation from the NRP. They explained that this would be a split for the ultimate purpose of uniting all the religious-Zionist elements in the Knesset.
The NRP's legal committee voted earlier this month to suspend Eitam as party chairman because of his unilateral actions of June 2004 when he and Levy quit the government and voted against it. Their move came in opposition to the disengagement plan. The NRP as a whole had made no such decision, and in fact objected to their move – though the party's remaining four MKs quit the government five months later, for the same reason.
Speaking with Arutz-7's Amatzia HaEitan last night, Eitam said, "Our new faction – formed, by the way, by the two previous NRP Chairmen – has one goal, as we have announced, and that is to ensure that there is only one Knesset list of candidates for the religious-Zionist movement in the next election. This doesn't mean that the parties or their institutions will be dissolved. But it's clear that in light of the Likud's collapse to Sharon's brutality - who apparently wants to uproot not only Gush Katif but also all of religious Zionism – it's clear that we need more than just the 4-5 Knesset seats of the NRP and those of the National Union. The National Union has agreed--
A-7: "Of course; why shouldn't they agree to take you in under their umbrella?"
Eitam: "No one is joining under anyone else's umbrella, rather the parties are joining together and preserving their own character. The NRP has rejected the idea, and so we, Rabbi Levy and I, have decided to be the pioneers leading the way."
A-7: "It sounds a bit strange. You're splitting off in order to unite? Why should the NRP follow you, after you split off from them?"
Eitam: "First of all, I'd like to remind you that when we quit the government last year, the rest of the NRP eventually followed us. I presume that as the next election approaches, some things will become clear that will change the situation: For one thing, a higher minimum threshold percentage [i.e., the percentage of votes that a party must receive in order to be represented in the Knesset].
"In addition, there will be heavy pressure from the public and the rabbis to run as a united list; it will be very hard to justify having several parties running alone. We have a great opportunity, in light of the crisis that the Likud is undergoing, and if we can propose a large enough platform, I think we can also attract a lot of Likud voters. True, at present it looks like we're splitting, but I am convinced that this is the beginning of a road leading to a united Religious Zionist movement, with a clear statement that we will not allow the Prime Minister to trample it."
Eitam said that the new faction will be the beginning of a framework that will deal with many issues, such as development towns, social problems and educational issues: "At today's assembly, we saw many people there from many places that the NRP may have slightly neglected in recent years, from Ashdod, Be'er Sheva, from some neighborhoods in Tel Aviv... This also contributes to the unity that I'm talking about."
A-7: "What will you do if the NRP doesn't want to join your initiative?"
Eitam: "We'll join with whoever wants to join; the National Union has already agreed, and we haven't yet heard the final word from some parts of the Likud. But for the NRP not to join would be very problematic, in light of a higher minimum threshold, problematic polls, and public and rabbinic pressure; I don't know how they would be able to explain not joining. The question that stands before them is whether to invest in fighting the Likud, or in attacking myself and Tzvi Hendel?
A-7: "They will say that they have many educational institutions of dozens of years – yeshivot and ulpanot [girls' high schools] and the like, and there's no reason to erase all this just because of one issue – the Land of Israel; after all, they like to portray you as being one-issue oriented."
Eitam responded that these institutions are public and do not belong to the NRP, and that Rabbi Levy is an ex-Education Minister, and that he [Eitam] has also been as involved in education as much as anyone else in the NRP. He reiterated that the new party will be involved in social issues. "If the NRP needs more time to agree on the unification, the door is always open. I don't think the public will buy an NRP approach that is based on small-minded quibbling and accounting with Rabbi Levy and me. If they insist on going their own way, then I'll certainly be happy not to have been stuck with them. What's needed now is unity, and that's the goal."
A-7: "One of the rabbis who is backing you is Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, who announced today that the residents should not fight with the soldiers coming to evacuate them, but should rather just leave their homes in an organized fashion. Do you agree with this?"
Eitam: "Of course we agree that there should be no violence towards soldiers or policemen... We will act according to law. I believe that road-blocking is something that the State tolerates, even if it's not totally legal, as something that citizens may employ to protest policy. Rabbi Aviner does not give specific orders, but it's good that he's beginning to set the general limits."
Some 150 people took part in the founding convention yesterday, including Rabbi Aviner, who said, "We must not criticize the NRP, because the end goal is to re-unite. We will unite all the religious people in the country, even if we have to suffer in the process."
MK Levy said, "This is a hard day for me, after 18 years of being in the leadership of the NRP. But this step is essential for the good of the religious-Zionist public. The NRP has closed itself up so much that we couldn't fix anything from within; it must be shaken from the outside... We left so that the NRP would call us to return."
The NRP's legal committee voted earlier this month to suspend Eitam as party chairman because of his unilateral actions of June 2004 when he and Levy quit the government and voted against it. Their move came in opposition to the disengagement plan. The NRP as a whole had made no such decision, and in fact objected to their move – though the party's remaining four MKs quit the government five months later, for the same reason.
Speaking with Arutz-7's Amatzia HaEitan last night, Eitam said, "Our new faction – formed, by the way, by the two previous NRP Chairmen – has one goal, as we have announced, and that is to ensure that there is only one Knesset list of candidates for the religious-Zionist movement in the next election. This doesn't mean that the parties or their institutions will be dissolved. But it's clear that in light of the Likud's collapse to Sharon's brutality - who apparently wants to uproot not only Gush Katif but also all of religious Zionism – it's clear that we need more than just the 4-5 Knesset seats of the NRP and those of the National Union. The National Union has agreed--
A-7: "Of course; why shouldn't they agree to take you in under their umbrella?"
Eitam: "No one is joining under anyone else's umbrella, rather the parties are joining together and preserving their own character. The NRP has rejected the idea, and so we, Rabbi Levy and I, have decided to be the pioneers leading the way."
A-7: "It sounds a bit strange. You're splitting off in order to unite? Why should the NRP follow you, after you split off from them?"
Eitam: "First of all, I'd like to remind you that when we quit the government last year, the rest of the NRP eventually followed us. I presume that as the next election approaches, some things will become clear that will change the situation: For one thing, a higher minimum threshold percentage [i.e., the percentage of votes that a party must receive in order to be represented in the Knesset].
"In addition, there will be heavy pressure from the public and the rabbis to run as a united list; it will be very hard to justify having several parties running alone. We have a great opportunity, in light of the crisis that the Likud is undergoing, and if we can propose a large enough platform, I think we can also attract a lot of Likud voters. True, at present it looks like we're splitting, but I am convinced that this is the beginning of a road leading to a united Religious Zionist movement, with a clear statement that we will not allow the Prime Minister to trample it."
Eitam said that the new faction will be the beginning of a framework that will deal with many issues, such as development towns, social problems and educational issues: "At today's assembly, we saw many people there from many places that the NRP may have slightly neglected in recent years, from Ashdod, Be'er Sheva, from some neighborhoods in Tel Aviv... This also contributes to the unity that I'm talking about."
A-7: "What will you do if the NRP doesn't want to join your initiative?"
Eitam: "We'll join with whoever wants to join; the National Union has already agreed, and we haven't yet heard the final word from some parts of the Likud. But for the NRP not to join would be very problematic, in light of a higher minimum threshold, problematic polls, and public and rabbinic pressure; I don't know how they would be able to explain not joining. The question that stands before them is whether to invest in fighting the Likud, or in attacking myself and Tzvi Hendel?
A-7: "They will say that they have many educational institutions of dozens of years – yeshivot and ulpanot [girls' high schools] and the like, and there's no reason to erase all this just because of one issue – the Land of Israel; after all, they like to portray you as being one-issue oriented."
Eitam responded that these institutions are public and do not belong to the NRP, and that Rabbi Levy is an ex-Education Minister, and that he [Eitam] has also been as involved in education as much as anyone else in the NRP. He reiterated that the new party will be involved in social issues. "If the NRP needs more time to agree on the unification, the door is always open. I don't think the public will buy an NRP approach that is based on small-minded quibbling and accounting with Rabbi Levy and me. If they insist on going their own way, then I'll certainly be happy not to have been stuck with them. What's needed now is unity, and that's the goal."
A-7: "One of the rabbis who is backing you is Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, who announced today that the residents should not fight with the soldiers coming to evacuate them, but should rather just leave their homes in an organized fashion. Do you agree with this?"
Eitam: "Of course we agree that there should be no violence towards soldiers or policemen... We will act according to law. I believe that road-blocking is something that the State tolerates, even if it's not totally legal, as something that citizens may employ to protest policy. Rabbi Aviner does not give specific orders, but it's good that he's beginning to set the general limits."
Some 150 people took part in the founding convention yesterday, including Rabbi Aviner, who said, "We must not criticize the NRP, because the end goal is to re-unite. We will unite all the religious people in the country, even if we have to suffer in the process."
MK Levy said, "This is a hard day for me, after 18 years of being in the leadership of the NRP. But this step is essential for the good of the religious-Zionist public. The NRP has closed itself up so much that we couldn't fix anything from within; it must be shaken from the outside... We left so that the NRP would call us to return."