At 2 AM, representatives of the two leading religious-Zionist parties signed an agreement to run together as one bloc. The two parties are the National Union, comprising three factions, and the National Religious Party.
The first four places will be occupied by the leaders of the four factions, in this order: Benny Elon (Moledet and National Union Chairman, pictured on left), Zevulun Orlev (NRP, pictured on right), Tzvi Hendel (Tekumah), and Effie Eitam (Religious Zionist Renewal).
In fifth place is Nissan Slomiansky of the NRP.
At a joint press conference today led by the above five, MK Benny Elon said, "We have united in order to lead the right-wing, and in order to lead the country - no less."
MK Orlev said, "This united list is the best answer to the very bad feeling that the religious-Zionist public has about the continuing assault on its values and institutions. The Kadima government represents a dangerous threat to the Jewish identity of this country, as well as to social justice and values."
Unity Despite Differences
The merging of the two parties is a widely-welcomed achievement in the religious-Zionist public, which has signed petitions, sent public figures, taken out newspaper ads and showed in various other ways its desire for unity in the camp. Despite significant differences between the two parties, the leaders finally found the formula - after three months of wrangling - to bridge the divide.
Among the questions that had to be overcome were: Who would head the list? How would the other places be distributed? What to do in the event that one party wants to join the government and the other doesn't? How much emphasis to put on Land of Israel issues in comparison with education and social welfare?
The two parties are likely to face the first challenge to their unity very soon after the election, regarding the question of whether or not to join the new government. The NRP is more likely to want to join a Kadima-led government than is the National Union. The agreement therefore states that if, within the next two years, this question arises, an independent panel is to make the final decision. The panel is to comprise six members: two appointed by each party, and former Chief Rabbis Shapira and Eliyahu.
Places 6-9 on the joint list are also distributed equally among the factions, though in a different order than the first four: Yitzchak Levy (RZR), Eli Gabbai (NRP), Aryeh Eldad (Moledet), and Uri Ariel (Tekumah).
In 10th and 11th places on the joint list are Gila Finkelstein and Sha'ul Yahalom of the NRP. The next two places will be filled by the National Union, and the two after that - by the NRP.
Polls have given the National Union approximately 7-8 seats in the coming election, and the NRP 3-4. MK Tzvi Hendel expressed optimism today that the joint list would win 15 seats.
List Comprises Many Former NRP Members
Places 2-7 on the joint list are all occupied by past or present members of the NRP - including two former NRP chairmen. Hendel was elected to the Knesset as a member of the NRP in mid-1996, and left the party two years later, together with then-MK Chanan Porat, to form Tekumah. They left on the backdrop of what they felt was the NRP's lackluster opposition to then-Prime Minister Netanyahu's plans to withdraw from parts of Judea and Samaria.
The NRP leader at the time of the above split was none other than Rabbi Yitzchak Levy. Levy stepped down from his leadership post before the 2003 elections to make way for Effie Eitam in the top spot. Levy and Eitam both split off from the NRP in 2004, on the backdrop of what they felt was the NRP's lackluster opposition to Prime Minister Sharon's Disengagement plan.
Eitam and Levy, as mentioned above, are in places 4 and 6, respectively, on the new religious-Zionist list.
Elon said today that the pre-agreement bickering between the parties was over: "Now comes the wedding itself, and we're running forward together."
Orlev said, "I well understand the mood in our communities, schools and public, and I believe with full faith that this is a festive day in the religious and traditional Zionist movement."
Sour Meimad Response
Rabbi Michael Melchior, who is in Labor's #10 slot as the party's token religious-Zionist on behalf of the left-wing Meimad movement, attacked the NRP. "It is sad that the voices of rational religious Zionism in the NRP have dwindled," he said. "This is a total surrender by Orlev, in terms of values and Torah, to the extremist philosophy of Effie Eitam and partners. Meimad remains the only political alternative acting to unite and bridge between religious and secular. Our important union with the Labor Party is designed to remind us that brothers must go together, in order to preserve a Jewish democratic state."
United Torah Judaism
In the hareidi-religious camp, as well, unity is the order of the day. Degel HaTorah and the hassidic "Agudat Yisrael" party signed an agreement to run together, as they have in the past four elections. Only for the 12th Knesset elections, in 1988, shortly after Degel was founded, did they run separately.
The joint list is called United Torah Judaism, and was approved by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and the Gerrer Rebbe. The list will be almost the same as that of the outgoing Knesset, headed by Yaakov Litzman (Agudah), Avraham Ravitz (Degel), Menachem Porush (Agudah), Moshe Gafni (Degel), Shmuel Halpert (Agudah), Yisrael Eichler (Agudah), who is to be replaced by Uri Makleb (Degel) in a rotation agreement after two years.
In other election news:
The Shas Party released its final list of Knesset candidates today, with some minor surprises. Former Health Minister Nissim Dahan is not running, having withdrawn for personal reasons. The list is headed by party leader Eli Yishai, followed in the next nine places by incumbent MKs - except for slot number 5, which has been assigned to up-and-coming Ariel Attias. Some say that Attias is being groomed to be the party's next leader. The Ethiopian immigrant community is represented for the first on the Shas list; Mazor Bahaineh will be in slot number 13.
Two former Shinui MKs, Moti Zandberg and Chemi Doron, joined the Likud today. They will not run for Knesset, but will give of their Knesset campaign funding and broadcast time to the Likud. Asked what Zandberg and Doron will gain from the move, Doron's spokesperson said that they agree with the Likud ideologically, and that the negotiations are still at an early stage.
Of the original 15 MKs of the anti-religious Shinui Party, only two remain in the party. Eight have formed the Secular Zionist Party, headed by MK Avraham Poraz, one joined Yisrael Beiteinu, two have joined the Likud, one is running on his own, and one has retired.
The first four places will be occupied by the leaders of the four factions, in this order: Benny Elon (Moledet and National Union Chairman, pictured on left), Zevulun Orlev (NRP, pictured on right), Tzvi Hendel (Tekumah), and Effie Eitam (Religious Zionist Renewal).
In fifth place is Nissan Slomiansky of the NRP.
At a joint press conference today led by the above five, MK Benny Elon said, "We have united in order to lead the right-wing, and in order to lead the country - no less."
MK Orlev said, "This united list is the best answer to the very bad feeling that the religious-Zionist public has about the continuing assault on its values and institutions. The Kadima government represents a dangerous threat to the Jewish identity of this country, as well as to social justice and values."
Unity Despite Differences
The merging of the two parties is a widely-welcomed achievement in the religious-Zionist public, which has signed petitions, sent public figures, taken out newspaper ads and showed in various other ways its desire for unity in the camp. Despite significant differences between the two parties, the leaders finally found the formula - after three months of wrangling - to bridge the divide.
Among the questions that had to be overcome were: Who would head the list? How would the other places be distributed? What to do in the event that one party wants to join the government and the other doesn't? How much emphasis to put on Land of Israel issues in comparison with education and social welfare?
The two parties are likely to face the first challenge to their unity very soon after the election, regarding the question of whether or not to join the new government. The NRP is more likely to want to join a Kadima-led government than is the National Union. The agreement therefore states that if, within the next two years, this question arises, an independent panel is to make the final decision. The panel is to comprise six members: two appointed by each party, and former Chief Rabbis Shapira and Eliyahu.
Places 6-9 on the joint list are also distributed equally among the factions, though in a different order than the first four: Yitzchak Levy (RZR), Eli Gabbai (NRP), Aryeh Eldad (Moledet), and Uri Ariel (Tekumah).
In 10th and 11th places on the joint list are Gila Finkelstein and Sha'ul Yahalom of the NRP. The next two places will be filled by the National Union, and the two after that - by the NRP.
Polls have given the National Union approximately 7-8 seats in the coming election, and the NRP 3-4. MK Tzvi Hendel expressed optimism today that the joint list would win 15 seats.
List Comprises Many Former NRP Members
Places 2-7 on the joint list are all occupied by past or present members of the NRP - including two former NRP chairmen. Hendel was elected to the Knesset as a member of the NRP in mid-1996, and left the party two years later, together with then-MK Chanan Porat, to form Tekumah. They left on the backdrop of what they felt was the NRP's lackluster opposition to then-Prime Minister Netanyahu's plans to withdraw from parts of Judea and Samaria.
The NRP leader at the time of the above split was none other than Rabbi Yitzchak Levy. Levy stepped down from his leadership post before the 2003 elections to make way for Effie Eitam in the top spot. Levy and Eitam both split off from the NRP in 2004, on the backdrop of what they felt was the NRP's lackluster opposition to Prime Minister Sharon's Disengagement plan.
Eitam and Levy, as mentioned above, are in places 4 and 6, respectively, on the new religious-Zionist list.
Elon said today that the pre-agreement bickering between the parties was over: "Now comes the wedding itself, and we're running forward together."
Orlev said, "I well understand the mood in our communities, schools and public, and I believe with full faith that this is a festive day in the religious and traditional Zionist movement."
Sour Meimad Response
Rabbi Michael Melchior, who is in Labor's #10 slot as the party's token religious-Zionist on behalf of the left-wing Meimad movement, attacked the NRP. "It is sad that the voices of rational religious Zionism in the NRP have dwindled," he said. "This is a total surrender by Orlev, in terms of values and Torah, to the extremist philosophy of Effie Eitam and partners. Meimad remains the only political alternative acting to unite and bridge between religious and secular. Our important union with the Labor Party is designed to remind us that brothers must go together, in order to preserve a Jewish democratic state."
United Torah Judaism
In the hareidi-religious camp, as well, unity is the order of the day. Degel HaTorah and the hassidic "Agudat Yisrael" party signed an agreement to run together, as they have in the past four elections. Only for the 12th Knesset elections, in 1988, shortly after Degel was founded, did they run separately.
The joint list is called United Torah Judaism, and was approved by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and the Gerrer Rebbe. The list will be almost the same as that of the outgoing Knesset, headed by Yaakov Litzman (Agudah), Avraham Ravitz (Degel), Menachem Porush (Agudah), Moshe Gafni (Degel), Shmuel Halpert (Agudah), Yisrael Eichler (Agudah), who is to be replaced by Uri Makleb (Degel) in a rotation agreement after two years.
In other election news:
The Shas Party released its final list of Knesset candidates today, with some minor surprises. Former Health Minister Nissim Dahan is not running, having withdrawn for personal reasons. The list is headed by party leader Eli Yishai, followed in the next nine places by incumbent MKs - except for slot number 5, which has been assigned to up-and-coming Ariel Attias. Some say that Attias is being groomed to be the party's next leader. The Ethiopian immigrant community is represented for the first on the Shas list; Mazor Bahaineh will be in slot number 13.
Two former Shinui MKs, Moti Zandberg and Chemi Doron, joined the Likud today. They will not run for Knesset, but will give of their Knesset campaign funding and broadcast time to the Likud. Asked what Zandberg and Doron will gain from the move, Doron's spokesperson said that they agree with the Likud ideologically, and that the negotiations are still at an early stage.
Of the original 15 MKs of the anti-religious Shinui Party, only two remain in the party. Eight have formed the Secular Zionist Party, headed by MK Avraham Poraz, one joined Yisrael Beiteinu, two have joined the Likud, one is running on his own, and one has retired.