La'am (, an abbreviation of Likud Avoda Mamlakhtit) was a political faction in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

that formed part of

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

between 1976 and 1984.

History

Between its formation in 1973 and formal merger in 1988, Likud consisted of an alliance of several right wing parties. The two largest blocs were

Herut Herut () was the major conservative nationalist political party in Israel from 1948 until its formal merger into Likud in 1988. It was an adherent of Revisionist Zionism. Some of their policies were compared to those of the Nazi party. Early y ...

and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, which had formed the

Gahal Gahal (, an acronym for ''Gush Herut–Liberalim'' (Hebrew: ), ''lit.'' ''Freedom–Liberals Bloc'') was the main right-leaning political alliance in Israel, ranging from the centre-right to right-wing, from its founding in 1965 until the establi ...

alliance between 1965 and 1973. In 1973 the two parties were joined by the Free Centre, the Independent Centre (a breakaway from the Free Centre), the National List and the Movement for Greater Israel. In 1976, the latter three formed an alliance within the Likud bloc, named La'am, which consisted of eight of Likud's 39 seats. In the 1977 elections La'am remained at eight seats, with Likud growing to 43. On 15 May 1979,

Moshe Shamir Moshe Shamir (; 15 September 1921 – 20 August 2004) was an Israeli author, playwright, opinion writer, and public figure. He was the author of a play upon which Israeli film '' He Walked Through the Fields'' was based. Biography Shamir was bor ...

, the Movement for Greater Israel representative, left Likud to sit as an independent,Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups
Knesset website later establishing

Tehiya Tehiya (), originally known as Banai (, an abbreviation for ''Land of Israel Loyalists' Alliance''), then Tehiya-Bnai (), was an ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a co ...

with Geula Cohen. On 26 January 1981 three of its members,

Yigal Hurvitz Yigal Hurvitz (; 15 October 1918 – 10 January 1994) was an Israeli farmer, businessman and politician who served as a government minister in the late 1970s and 1980s. Biography Hurvitz was born in Nahlat Yehuda (today part of Rishon LeZion) i ...

, Zalman Shoval and Yitzhak Peretz, left Likud to re-establish the National List as an independent party. Hurvitz and Shoval left to form Telem, whilst Peretz returned to Likud and La'am. La'am was reduced to five seats from Likud's 48 in the June 1981 elections, following disputes within Likud about the number of seats allocated to each faction in which many Herut members felt the Liberal Party and La'am were over-represented.Israel's Eleventh Knesset elections
p89 On 26 October 1982 it was reduced to three seats as

Amnon Linn Amnon Linn (; 29 March 1924 – 21 July 2016) was an Israeli politician, jurist and member of Knesset. Biography Amnon Linn was born in Mishmar HaEmek. His parents were Hava and David (Dodia) Linkovich (later Linn). He became a member of the Ha ...

and Peretz defected to the

Alignment Alignment may refer to: Archaeology * Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks * Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones Biology * Struc ...

. However, it gained an extra MK when

Avraham Hirschson Abraham Hirschson (; 11 February 1941 – 7 March 2022) was an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 1981 and 1984, and again from 1992 until 2009. He also held the posts of Minister of Communicati ...

replaced Liberal faction member

Simha Erlich Simha Erlich (; 15 December 1915 – 19 June 1983) was an Israeli politician. Erlich was leader of the Liberal Party and served in the Knesset from 1969 to 1983. Erlich notably served as Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Menachem Begin, w ...

. In 1984, as part of a move to consolidate Likud, La'am merged into Herut. Four years later the Liberal Party and Herut formally merged to leave Likud as a unitary party.

Knesset members

References

{{Israeli political parties Political parties established in 1976 Political parties disestablished in 1984 Defunct political parties in Israel Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew