Union_of_Right-Wing_Parties

Union of Right-Wing Parties

Union of Right-Wing Parties

Israeli electoral alliance


The Union of Right-wing Parties (Hebrew: איחוד מפלגות הימין, Ihud Miflagot HaYamin) was a short-lived electoral alliance of right-wing to far-right religious Zionist parties which included The Jewish Home, Otzma Yehudit, and Tkuma. The list was created ahead of the April 2019 Israeli legislative election,[2] 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.[3] The alliance gained five seats in the April election.[4]

Quick Facts Leader, Founded ...

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 demanded.[5]

For the September 2019 election, the URWP ran on a joint list, called Yamina,[6] with the New Right,[7] 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.[8] The parties later split,[9] though Yamina re-formed for the 2020 Israeli legislative election.[10]

Background

In January 2019, Tkuma and Otzma Yehudit entered talks to form a joint list;[11] however, the talks ultimately failed on 11 February 2019.[12]

On 12 February 2019, Otzma Yehudit entered talks with the Jewish Home party to reach an agreement on a joint list.[13]

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.[14]

On 19 February 2019, it was reported that negotiations between Otzma Yehudit and the Jewish Home were deadlocked.[15]

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.[16] In order to facilitate this deal, Netanyahu also gave Jewish Home candidate Eli Ben-Dahan a position on the Likud party list, and formed a surplus-vote agreement between Likud and the URWP.[17]

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,[18] although Eli Yishai, the head of Yachad, has claimed that Aryeh Deri vetoed Yishai's potential ministerial appointment.[19]

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.[20]

On 29 July 2019, the URWP and the New Right reached a final agreement on joint run, with the New Right's Ayelet Shaked leading the joint list, which is[21] named Yamina.[22]

On 15 September, two days before the election, Yamina filed a motion to split back to the New Right and Jewish HomeNational Union. Shaked made a last ditch attempt to keep them together, without success.[23]

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,[24] the Anti-Defamation League,[25] and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.[26] Yifat Erlich, who was formerly on the slate for The Jewish Home, left the party over the union with Otzma Yehudit.[27]

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.[28]

Composition

Leaders

More information Leader, Took office ...

Knesset election results

More information Election, Leader ...

Knesset members

More information Year, Members ...

References

  1. Lahav Harkov (15 March 2019). "Smotrich sees himself on the frontlines of a battle for Israel's future". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  2. Hezki Baruch (21 February 2019). ""Union of the Right-Wing Parties" submits Knesset list". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  3. "Otzma Yehudit accuses Jewish Home leader of reneging on election deal". Jewish News Syndicate. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  4. Staff writer (12 August 2019). "United Right to run under name "Yemina"". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  5. Sharon, Jeremy (30 July 2019). "Right-wing parties form alliance to be led by Shaked". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  6. "The New Right fails to pass electoral threshold". Ynet. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  7. Wootliff, Raoul (10 October 2019). "Yamina party officially splits into New Right, Jewish Home-National Union". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  8. Hezki Baruch (30 January 2019). "Negotiations between National Union, Otzma Yehudit underway". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  9. Staff writer (11 February 2019). "National Union, Otzma Yehudit negotiations end". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  10. Hezki Baruch (12 February 2019). "Jewish Home alliance with Otzma Yehudit?". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  11. Magid, Jacob (15 February 2019). "Jewish Home and National Union agree to reunite for Knesset run". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  12. Mordechai Sones (19 February 2019). "Otzmah negotiations deadlocked". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  13. Magid, Jacob (20 February 2019). "Jewish Home votes overwhelmingly to back merger with extremist party". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  14. Hezki Baruch (21 February 2019). "Eli Yishai to run alone". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  15. Harkov, Lahav (6 October 2019). "Yamina to officially split into two blocs". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  16. Tibon, Amir (22 February 2019). "Prominent Jewish Group Changes Course, Denounces Far-right Party Courted by Netanyahu". Haaretz. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  17. Jeremy Sharon (27 February 2019). "Jewish groups speak out against union of Bayit Yehudi with Otzma Party". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  18. David Rosenberg (17 March 2019). "Arab parties in, Otzma Yehudit candidate out". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 13 December 2019.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Union_of_Right-Wing_Parties, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.