The Union of Right-wing Parties (, ''Ihud Miflagot HaYamin'') was a short-lived
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.
Ea ...
of
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
to
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
religious Zionist
Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religious"), and in Israel, the ...
parties which included
The Jewish Home
The Jewish Home ( he, הַבַּיִת הַיְהוּדִי, HaBayit HaYehudi) is an Orthodox Jewish and religious Zionist political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Moledet, and Tkuma in ...
,
Otzma Yehudit, and
Tkuma. The list was created ahead of the
April 2019 Israeli legislative election
April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. It is the first of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the second of five months to have a length of less than 31 days.
April is commonly associated with ...
, after the Israeli Prime Minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, urged the Jewish Home alliance to accept
Otzma Yehudit as part of its list for the April election, to avoid losing votes for the right-wing bloc. The alliance gained five seats in the April election.
Otzma Yehudit left the union on 5 July 2019, citing disagreements with the party, such as the refusal of URWP members to resign to allow Itamar Ben-Gvir to become a Knesset member. In addition, Otzma was unwilling to leave
Baruch Marzel and
Ben-Zion Gopstein off the electoral slate, as
Rafi Peretz
Rafael "Rafi" Peretz (; born 7 January 1956) is an Israeli Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi and politician. A former military officer and helicopter aviator, pilot who also served as the Military Rabbinate, Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel De ...
demanded.
For the
September 2019 election, the URWP ran on a joint list, called
Yamina
Yamina or Yemina (; ) is an Israeli political alliance of right-wing parties that originally included the New Right and the Union of Right-Wing Parties (a union of The Jewish Home and Tkuma). The current incarnation of the alliance includes ...
, with the
New Right
New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...
, to get both to pass the 3.25% threshold to enter the Knesset, after the New Right failed to pass the threshold in the April election. The parties later split, though Yamina re-formed for the
2020 Israeli legislative election.
Background
In January 2019, Tkuma and Otzma Yehudit entered talks to form a joint list; however, the talks ultimately failed on 11 February 2019.
On 12 February 2019, Otzma Yehudit entered talks with the Jewish Home party to reach an agreement on a joint list.
On 15 February 2019, Tkuma and the Jewish Home party agreed to a form a list again, with Tkuma getting every other seat on the list.
On 19 February 2019, it was reported that negotiations between Otzma Yehudit and the Jewish Home were deadlocked.
On 20 February 2019, both Otzma Yehudit and the Jewish Home agreed to terms to form a list, after Netanyahu had promised the Jewish Home ministerial positions in exchange for uniting with Otzma Yehudit. In order to facilitate this deal, Netanyahu also gave Jewish Home candidate
Eli Ben-Dahan a position on the
Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon ...
party list, and formed a surplus-vote agreement between Likud and the URWP.
The party attempted to get
Yachad to join the technical list, but negotiations failed, due to the rabbi of Yachad, Rabbi
Meir Mazuz, rejecting it, although
Eli Yishai, the head of Yachad, has claimed that
Aryeh Deri vetoed Yishai's potential ministerial appointment.
Otzma Yehudit announced on 25 June that it would leave the technical bloc over the refusal of the Jewish Home party to seat
Itamar Ben-Gvir in the Knesset using the
Norwegian law.
On 29 July 2019, the URWP and the
New Right
New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...
reached a final agreement on joint run, with the New Right's
Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet Shaked (; he, אַיֶּילֶת שָׁקֵד; born 7 May 1976) is an Israeli politician, activist, and software engineer currently serving as Minister of Interior. She served as a member of the Knesset for The Jewish Home from 2013 to ...
leading the joint list, which is named
Yamina
Yamina or Yemina (; ) is an Israeli political alliance of right-wing parties that originally included the New Right and the Union of Right-Wing Parties (a union of The Jewish Home and Tkuma). The current incarnation of the alliance includes ...
.
On 15 September, two days before the election,
Yamina
Yamina or Yemina (; ) is an Israeli political alliance of right-wing parties that originally included the New Right and the Union of Right-Wing Parties (a union of The Jewish Home and Tkuma). The current incarnation of the alliance includes ...
filed a motion to split back to the
New Right
New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...
and
Jewish Home
The Jewish Home ( he, הַבַּיִת הַיְהוּדִי, HaBayit HaYehudi) is an Orthodox Jewish and religious Zionist political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Moledet, and Tkuma in N ...
–
National Union. Shaked made a last ditch attempt to keep them together, without success.
Controversy
Due to the
Kahanist ideology of Otzma Yehudit, there was controversy surrounding Netanyahu attempting to get Otzma Yehudit to run on a list with the Jewish Home party, which led to it being condemned by the
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish or ...
, the
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
, and the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Stat ...
. Yifat Erlich, who was formerly on the slate for The Jewish Home, left the party over the union with Otzma Yehudit.
Michael Ben-Ari, who was placed fifth on the URWP list as part of Otzma Yehudit, was banned from running for the Knesset on 17 March 2019 by the
Supreme Court of Israel
ar, المحكمة العليا
, image = Emblem of Israel dark blue full.svg
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, caption = Emblem of Israel
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, established =
, location = Givat Ram, Jerusalem
, coordina ...
.
Composition
Leaders
Knesset election results
Knesset members
References
{{Israeli political parties
Defunct political party alliances in Israel
Orthodox Jewish political parties
Conservative parties in Israel
Social conservative parties
Religious Zionist political parties in Israel
Religious Zionism
Political parties established in 2019
Right-wing parties
Right-wing politics in Israel
Political parties disestablished in 2019
2019 establishments in Israel
2019 disestablishments in Israel
National conservative parties