Yisrael HaMithadeshet , formerly known as Aliyah Yisrael HaMithadeshet , formerly known as Aliyah Yisrael HaMithadeshet , formerly known as Aliyah ' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/National_Union_(Israel)">National Union
The National Union is a nationalist political party in Israel. In the 2009 elections the Union was an alliance of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:...
, itself an alliance of right-wing parties led by
Binyamin ElonRabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon has lived in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank for the last twenty years...
. In the 2003 elections the joint list won seven seats, with Yisrael Beiteinu being given four of them. The alliance joined
Ariel Sharon' is an Israeli general and statesman, former Israeli Prime Minister...
's government and Lieberman was made
Minister of TransportThe Transportation Minister of Israel is the government minister at the head of the Transportation Ministry in Israel. A relatively minor post in the Israeli cabinet, it is often given to smaller parties in the governing coalitions...
. However, the party left the government on 6 June 2004, in response to the
disengagement planIsrael's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut") was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict...
. On 1 February 2006, shortly before the elections that year, the party split from National Union in order to run alone in the elections.
The election results saw the party increase in strength to eleven seats. Although it remained outside
Ehud OlmertEhud Olmert is an Israeli political figure, and former Prime Minister of Israel having served from 2006 to 2009. Olmert was the mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003. In 2003 he was elected to the Knesset and became a minister and Acting Prime Minister in the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...
's government formed in May 2006, it joined the coalition in October 2006. The party was involved in a controversy in January 2007 after Labor Party leader
Amir PeretzAmir Peretz is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He is a former Defense Minister of Israel and former leader of the Labour Party, having left those positions in June 2007....
nominated
Raleb MajadeleRaleb Majadele is an Israeli politician and minister. When appointed Minister without Portfolio on 28 January 2007, he became the first Muslim Arab member of the Israeli cabinet.-Biography:...
for the position of
Minister of Science and TechnologyThe Science and Technology Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology and a relatively minor position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Daniel Hershkowitz of The Jewish Home...
, thereby making him Israel's first Muslim Arab minister. Lieberman condemned the nomination and called for Peretz's resignation, accusing him of harming Israel's security by ceding to "internal rivalries" within the Labour party, whilst Peretz accused Yisrael Beiteinu of being a racist party. Yisrael Beiteinu's member of Knesset (MK)
Esterina TartmanEsterina Tartman is an Israeli politician. She served as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu between 2006 and 2009.-Political career:...
referred to Peretz's decision as a "lethal blow to Zionism," adding that Majadale's presence in the
cabinetThe Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials, ministers, chosen and led by a Prime Minister. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Knesset. Under Israeli law, the Prime Minister may remove members of the Cabinet, but must do so in writing, and new appointees...
would damage "Israel's character as a Jewish state" and that "We need to destroy this affliction from within ourselves. God willing, God will come to our help." Tartman's comments were immediately condemned as racist by other MKs.
In January 2008 the party left the government in protest against talks with the
Palestinian National AuthorityThe Palestinian National Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip....
, saying certain issues negotiated were not to be tolerated. Lieberman pulled out of the government and left his position as Minister of Strategic Affairs, and almost immediately afterwards,
Arutz Sheva reported that an investigation against Lieberman and his daughter that had been "ongoing for years, suddenly became active again once he left the government last week."
On 22 December 2008, Lieberman approved the party's list for the
2009 electionsElections for the 18th Knesset were held in Israel on 10 February 2009. These elections became necessary due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government...
. New names in the top ten include
Orly LevyOrly Levy is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. She previously worked as a model and television host.-Biography:...
(daughter of former
LikudLikud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
MK
David LevyDavid Levy is an Israeli politician.Levi was born in Morocco and emigrated to Israel in 1957...
) and
Anastasia MichaeliAnastasia Michaeli is an Israeli model, businesswomen and politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:...
, two former models and current television hosts. Knesset members
Yosef ShagalYosef Shagal is an Azerbaijani-Israeli politician and former journalist. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Russian-immigrant dominated Yisrael Beiteinu between 2006 and 2009.-Background:...
and Tartman failed to make the list. The results of the election saw the party win 15 seats, making it the third largest after Kadima (28) and Likud (27). In March 2009, Yisrael Beiteinu joined Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition and party leader Avigdor Lieberman became Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Affairs MinisterThe Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position is one of the most important in the Israeli cabinet after Prime Minister and Defense Minister...
, whilst the party received four other ministerial portfolios, and one deputy minister post.
Israeli Arabs and Palestinians
One of the party's best-known policies is that of redrawing the
Green LineThe term Green Line is used to refer to the 1949 Armistice lines established between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
with the West Bank in such a way that areas with high Arab populations, such as
the Triangle areaThe Triangle , formerly referred to as the Little triangle, is a concentration of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line, located in the eastern Sharon plain among the Samarian foothills...
and the
Wadi AraWadi Ara or Nahal Iron , refers to an area within Israel that is mostly populated by Arabs. It is located northwest of the Green Line and is mostly within Israel's Haifa District. Originally captured by Arab League forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, it was ceded to Israel in an apparent...
, both gained by Israel from
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
as part of the
1949 Armistice AgreementsThe 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and established armistice lines between Israel and the Jordanian-held West Bank,...
, would be transferred to Arab sovereignty. Known as the
Lieberman PlanThe Lieberman Plan, proposed May, 2004, also known in Israel as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu...
, such an arrangement would mean that a third of the Arab citizens of Israel would lose Israeli citizenship.
Lieberman argues that the Arab residents see themselves not as Israelis but as Palestinians, and should therefore be encouraged to join the Palestinian Authority. He has been involved in widely-publicized offers of financial compensation in exchange for renouncing their citizenship and land. Lieberman has presented this proposal as part of a potential peace deal aimed at establishing
two separate national entitiesThe two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007....
, one for Israelis and the other for Palestinians. However, he is known to have an affinity for the
DruzeThe Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shi'a...
population (the only Arab population to be fully drafted into the
IDFThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
), and has attracted a number of Druze voters, including some in the
Golan HeightsThe Golan Heights is a strategic plateau and mountainous region at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and remains a highly contested land straddling the borders of Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area is currently governed by Israel...
who voted for the party in protest. Druze candidate
Hamad AmarHamad Amar is a Israeli Druze politician and currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:...
was elected to the Knesset on the party's list in 2009.
Regarding Palestinian statehood, Lieberman has said that he supports the creation of "a viable Palestinian state".
Yisrael Beiteinu came to international public attention in May 2009, when it announced it would propose laws banning Israeli Arabs from marking the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, with a jail term of up to three years for violators. Arabs mark
Nakba DayNakba Day , meaning "day of the catastrophe, is an annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people of the anniversary of the creation of Israel. It is held every May 15, the day after Israelis celebrate their independence day...
on May 15 every year.
The New York Times reports that the proposed ban was widely viewed as a violation of Israel's free speech laws. The draft bill was changed by ministers to bar public money being spent in recognition of Nakba Day.
Other Policies
MK
Lia ShemtovLia Shemtov is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.- Biography :Born in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR, Shemtov studied electronics engineering at Chernivtsi University before making aliyah to Israel in 1980. Between 1990 and 2003 she worked for Amidar...
is known for her opposition to the Israeli
welfare-to-workWelfare-to-work was a social program of the United States government that ended on September 30, 2004. The concept was to wean sole parents off their reliance on income support and encourage them back into the work force. The controversial program has met with mixed results...
plan (known as the "Wisconsin Plan"), along with the rest of the party.
Perception
A large number of
mainstream mediaMainstream Media is considered by some to be a catch-all term that applies to all mass media outlets in the world. It is considered by others to be a catch-all term that applies to all mass media outlets that existed in the United States of America prior to 1987.Controversy exists over the meaning...
sources, within and outside of Israel, label the party, and Lieberman, as
right wingIn politics, right-wing, political right, rightist and the Right are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for preserving traditional or cultural values and customs or for maintaining some form of social hierarchy or private...
and even
far rightFar right, extreme right, hard right, ultra-right or radical right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within a political spectrum...
or ultra nationalist. At the same time however, the party does recognize a
two-state solutionThe two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007....
and it claims it is
secularistSecularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a...
Party, with some of its particular religious policies described as "ultra liberal". These positions are contradictory to the tradition of both nationalistic and religious right wing politics in Israel. Some have called the party and its leader a "hard-line" or "self-styled"
populistPopulism is a political discourse that juxtaposes "the people" with "the elites." Populism may comprise an ideology urging social and political system changes and/or a rhetorical style deployed by members of political or social movements...
.
While various Arab and world media and politicians accused the party and its leader of being a fascist and racist, a number of Israeli media and politicians tend to disagree, and some even offered praise on occasion. For example,
KadimaKadima was founded as a centrist political party in Israel by moderates from Likud soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians. It became the largest party in the Knesset after the 2006 elections, winning 29 of the 120 seats...
's
Minister of Finance-List of the Israeli finance ministers:...
Roni Bar-OnRoni Bar-On is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima and a former Minister of Finance.-Background:...
said "It's a Jewish party, Zionist and serious." The party phenomenon was explained by
Gershom GorenbergGershom Gorenberg is an American-born Israeli historian, journalist and blogger, specializing in Middle Eastern politics and the interaction of religion and politics. He is currently a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, a monthly American political magazine...
:
- Lieberman is not a right-winger, because he’s talking about giving up land. In fact, he’s even willing to give up land from sovereign Israel. [..] I think one of the reasons people say Lieberman is in the center is that they don’t realize he has, in effect, redefined the terms.
In a February 2009 address considered to be directed at the
Obama administrationThe Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.His policy decisions have...
, Avigdor Lieberman stated that Yisrael Beiteinu was neither far-right, nor ultra-nationalist.
Yehuda Ben-Meir wrote in the left-wing
HaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
that he did not and would not ever vote for Lieberman. He also criticized the delegitimizing and demonizing of both the right and the left:
Lieberman is neither a racist nor a fascist, and depicting him as such does an injustice to his voters and harm to Israel.
What's racist is denying the Jewish people a state of their own. Certain Arab Knesset members talk incessantly about the Palestinian people's rights, including their own state. But in the same breath they refuse to acknowledge Israel as the state of the Jewish people and deny the very existence of a Jewish people as a nation with national rights...
Just as we must condemn right wingers' attempts to cast doubt over the patriotism of Yossi BeilinDr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006...
and his fellow subscribers to the Geneva Initiative - provocative as this plan might be to most Israelis - we must condemn the left's lamentable habit of denigrating Lieberman. The idea to change the state's borders in a peace agreement may not be practical or implementable in our circumstances, but we cannot deny its legitimacy and sense. And in any case, it has nothing to do with racism. Lieberman has said publicly that he supports the principle of establishing a Palestinian state.
According to
Time.comTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
, many Russian immigrants are attracted to the ideas of Lieberman's party. It also notes that analysts say that at this time "the dreary prospects for peace, and recent terrorist attacks inflicted by Israeli Arabs" have contributed to Lieberman's popularity among other segments of Israeli society.
Criticism
Yisrael Beiteinu and its plan have many vehement critics from the left and the right in Israel.
Despite its support for increased Jewish immigration (
aliyahAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
) and settlement expansion, Yisrael Beiteinu's platform is based in part on the creation of a
Palestinian state adjacent to IsraelThe two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007....
, and thus has alienated much of the religious right-wing settlement movement which refuses to acknowledge Palestinian claims to any of the 'Land of Israel.'
The
Lieberman PlanThe Lieberman Plan, proposed May, 2004, also known in Israel as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu...
caused a stir among Arab citizens of Israel, which explicitly treats them as a 'fifth column' and as an enemy within. With very few exceptions, Arabs in Israel argue that they are native to the region and should not have to renounce the villages and cities in which they, their parents, and their grandparents were born. Others insist that as Israeli citizens, they deserve equal rights within the State, and should not be singled out according to their ethnic or religious background. Various polls show that Arabs in Israel in general do not wish to move to the West Bank or Gaza if a Palestinian state were created there.
Organisation
Yisrael Beiteinu runs for local elections under the name of the city that they run in, e.g.
Petah TikvaPetah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel. Petah Tikva's jurisdiction covers 35,868 dunams . The population density is...
Beiteinu ("Petah Tikva Our Home"). While the party as a whole does not advocate the separation of religion and state, the local chapters generally push for measures that the religious public opposes, such as public transportation on Saturdays and the ability to sell
porkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig . The word pork often denotes specifically the fresh meat of the pig, but can be used as an all-inclusive term which includes cured, smoked, or processed meats It is one of the most-commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig...
(which is
treifKashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit"...
and
haraamHaraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the faith...
) in general stores.
Knesset members
The party currently has 15 Knesset members.
- Avigdor Lieberman
- Uzi Landau
Uzi Landau is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and Minister of National Infrastructure. Previously a Likud MK, he served as Minister of Internal Security between 2001 and 2003.-Biography:...
- Stas Misezhnikov
Stas Misezhnikov is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and as the country's Minister of Tourism.-Biography:...
- Yitzhak Aharonovich
Yitzhak Aharonovich is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu, and as the country's Minister of Internal Security.-Biography:...
- Sofa Landver
Sofa Landver is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and as the country's Minister of Immigrant Absorption.-Biography:...
- Orly Levy
Orly Levy is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. She previously worked as a model and television host.-Biography:...
- Danny Ayalon
- David Rotem
David Rotem is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Rotem grew up in Jerusalem, where he was a pupil at the Horev Elementary School and the Horev Yeshiva High School...
- Anastasia Michaeli
Anastasia Michaeli is an Israeli model, businesswomen and politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:...
- Faina Kirschenbaum
Faina Kirschenbaum is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Born in the Soviet Union, Kirschenbaum made aliyah to Israel on 31 December 1973...
- Robert Ilatov
Robert Ilatov is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Born in Andijan in the Soviet Union to a Bukharian Jewish family, Ilatov made aliyah to Israel on April 10, 1985...
- Hamad Amar
Hamad Amar is a Israeli Druze politician and currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:...
- Moshe Mutz Matlon
- Lia Shemtov
Lia Shemtov is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.- Biography :Born in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR, Shemtov studied electronics engineering at Chernivtsi University before making aliyah to Israel in 1980. Between 1990 and 2003 she worked for Amidar...
- Alex Miller
Alex Miller is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. At the time of his election in 2006, he was the youngest-ever Knesset member.-Biography:...
External links