Israel Beytenu
Encyclopedia
Yisrael Beiteinu is a nationalist political party in Israel. The party describes itself as "a national movement with the clear vision to follow in the brave path of Zev Jabotinsky", the founder of Revisionist Zionism
. The party traditionally represents immigrants from the former Soviet Union
, but has been making efforts to expand its appeal to a more veteran Israeli public. It takes a hard line towards the peace process and Israeli Arabs
, characterized by its 2009 election
slogan "No loyalty, no citizenship". Its main platform involves the creation of a Palestinian state that would include the exchange of largely Arab-inhabited parts of Israel for largely Jewish-inhabited parts of the West Bank. The party maintains an anti-clerical mantle and encourages socio-economic opportunities for new immigrants, in conjunction with efforts to increase Jewish immigration
. In the elections the party won 15 seats, its most to date, making it the third largest party in the Knesset
.
n immigrants who support a hard line in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Lieberman's actions were motivated by the concessions granted by his former boss, Benjamin Netanyahu
(when he was director-general of the Likud) to the Palestinian Authority in the 1997 Wye River Memorandum
, featuring the division of the West Bank city of Hebron
. One of the partners in Netanyahu's coalition was Yisrael BaAliyah, a new immigrants' list led by Natan Sharansky
that also had right-of-center leanings. After Lieberman left Likud, he registered great disappointment when Sharansky did not pull out of the coalition, as did two of Sharansky's colleagues in Yisrael BaAliyah, Michael Nudelman
and Yuri Stern
, both of whom broke away to form Aliyah
.
For the 1999 elections, Lieberman, Nudelman and Stern formed Yisrael Beiteinu, and the new party won four seats. On 1 February 2000 the party joined an alliace with the National Union
, itself an alliance of right-wing parties led by Binyamin Elon
. In the 2003 elections the joint list won seven seats, with Yisrael Beiteinu being given four of them. The alliance joined Ariel Sharon
's government and Lieberman was made Minister of Transport. However, the party left the government on 6 June 2004, in response to the disengagement plan
. 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 Olmert
'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 Peretz
nominated Raleb Majadele
for the position of Minister of Science and Technology
, 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 Tartman
referred to Peretz's decision as a "lethal blow to Zionism," adding that Majadale's presence in the cabinet
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 Authority
, 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 elections
. New names in the top ten include Orly Levy
(daughter of former Likud
MK David Levy
) and Anastasia Michaeli, two former models and current television hosts. Knesset members Yosef Shagal
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 Minister
, whilst the party received four other ministerial portfolios, and one deputy minister post.
with the West Bank in such a way that areas with high Arab populations, such as the Triangle area
and the Wadi Ara
, both gained by Israel as part of the 1949 Armistice Agreements
, would be transferred to Arab sovereignty. Known as the Lieberman Plan
, such an arrangement would mean that a third of the Arab citizens of Israel would lose Israeli citizenship.
Avigdor 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 Israeli citizenship and moving to a future Palestinian State. Lieberman has presented this proposal as part of a potential peace deal aimed at establishing two separate national entities
, one for Jews in Israel and the other for Arabs in Palestine. However, he is known to have an affinity for the Druze
population (the only Arab population to be fully drafted into the IDF
), and has attracted a number of Druze voters, including some in the Golan Heights who voted for the party in protest. Druze candidate Hamad Amar
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. Palestinians mark Nakba Day
on 15 May 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.
, has promoted a reform of the Law of Return
which would undertake the following measures:
The Conversion Bill has been heavily criticized by various religious groups in both Israel and other countries; Shas
and United Torah Judaism
initially balked at the bill due to perceived contradictions against Jewish law, but eventually reached a compromise, while member organizations of the World Union for Progressive Judaism
(including the IMPJ
and the Union for Reform Judaism
's Religious Action Center) heavily objected against the bill's further centering of religious power in the hands of the predominately-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate of Israel, discriminating against converts to Progressive Judaism and potentially alienating non-Orthodox Jews in the Jewish diaspora
.
is known for her opposition to the Israeli welfare-to-work plan (known as the "Wisconsin Plan"), along with the rest of the party.
The party also supports increasing the police force, improving education, easing conversions and secular/non-religious civil unions. The last two points are particularly popular with the Russian immigrant community who vote heavily for the party. These items angered some of the religious parties such as Shas with Shas's Rabbi Ovadia Yossef claiming that "Whoever votes for Lieberman gives strength to Satan," and claims that the party is a danger to religious matters in Israel.
sources, within and outside of Israel, label the party, and Lieberman, as right wing
and even far right or ultra nationalist. At the same time however, the party does recognize a two-state solution
and it claims it is a secular
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" populist
.
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, Kadima
's Minister of Finance Roni Bar-On
said "It's a Jewish party, Zionist and serious." The party phenomenon was explained by Gershom Gorenberg
:
In a February 2009 address considered to be directed at the Obama administration
, Avigdor Lieberman stated that Yisrael Beiteinu was neither far-right, nor ultra-nationalist.
Yehuda Ben-Meir wrote in the left-wing Haaretz
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:
According to Time.com
, 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.
Despite its support for increased Jewish immigration (aliyah
) and settlement expansion, Yisrael Beiteinu's platform is based in part on the creation of a Palestinian state adjacent to Israel
, 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.'
Yisrael Beiteinu has drawn equally strong criticism from the Left, in large part due to the Lieberman Plan
's proposed land and population transfers along ethnic lines. This focus on ethnicity and religion has drawn comparisons with the now defunct Kach
party.
The Lieberman Plan
caused a stir among Arab citizens of Israel, which explicitly treats them as a 'fifth column' and as an enemy within. With few exceptions, Arabs in Israel argue that they have lived in the region for centuries, and should not have to renounce the villages and cities in which they, their parents, and their grandparents were born (although the plan calls for a transfer of sovereignty, rather than population). 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.
. Haifa
Deputy Mayor Yulia Shtraim, a member of the party's municipal faction, said she would not allow the journalists to enter the hall "because of the Arabs' demonstration and what [the demonstrators] say about Lieberman." The Israeli Arab journalists were denied access, despite possessing press cards, being told that they were uninvited. However uninvited Jewish and foreign media were allowed in.
Young fans waiting for outside a Yisrael Beiteinu conference shouted the slogans "No loyalty, no citizenship" and "Death to Arabs" at passersby.
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 pork (which is treif
and haraam
) in general stores.
The party currently has 15 Knesset members.
Revisionist Zionism
Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement. It is the founding ideology of the non-religious right in Israel, and was the chief ideological competitor to the dominant socialist Labor Zionism...
. The party traditionally represents immigrants from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, but has been making efforts to expand its appeal to a more veteran Israeli public. It takes a hard line towards the peace process and Israeli Arabs
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
, characterized by its 2009 election
Israeli legislative election, 2009
Elections 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...
slogan "No loyalty, no citizenship". Its main platform involves the creation of a Palestinian state that would include the exchange of largely Arab-inhabited parts of Israel for largely Jewish-inhabited parts of the West Bank. The party maintains an anti-clerical mantle and encourages socio-economic opportunities for new immigrants, in conjunction with efforts to increase Jewish immigration
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
. In the elections the party won 15 seats, its most to date, making it the third largest party in the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
.
History
Yisrael Beiteinu was formed by Avigdor Lieberman to create a platform for RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n immigrants who support a hard line in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Lieberman's actions were motivated by the concessions granted by his former boss, Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
(when he was director-general of the Likud) to the Palestinian Authority in the 1997 Wye River Memorandum
Wye River Memorandum
The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestine Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement of 28 September, 1995...
, featuring the division of the West Bank city of Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
. One of the partners in Netanyahu's coalition was Yisrael BaAliyah, a new immigrants' list led by Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky was born in Stalino, Soviet Union on 20 January 1948 to a Jewish family. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As a child, he was a chess prodigy. He performed in simultaneous and blindfold displays, usually against...
that also had right-of-center leanings. After Lieberman left Likud, he registered great disappointment when Sharansky did not pull out of the coalition, as did two of Sharansky's colleagues in Yisrael BaAliyah, Michael Nudelman
Michael Nudelman
Michael Nudelman is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael BaAliyah, Aliyah, the National Union, Yisrael Beiteinu and Kadima between 1996 and 2009.-Political career:...
and Yuri Stern
Yuri Stern
Yuri Stern was a Russian-Israeli politician and journalist. He was a member of the Knesset from 1996 until his death, first as a member of Yisrael BaAliyah and later on behalf of Yisrael Beiteinu.-Background:...
, both of whom broke away to form Aliyah
Aliyah (political party)
Yisrael HaMithadeshet , formerly known as Aliyah is a political party in Israel.-Background:The party was formed on 23 February 1999 during the 14th Knesset when MKs Michael Nudelman and Yuri Stern, both immigrants from Russia, broke away from Natan Sharansky's Yisrael BaAliyah...
.
For the 1999 elections, Lieberman, Nudelman and Stern formed Yisrael Beiteinu, and the new party won four seats. On 1 February 2000 the party joined an alliace with the National Union
National Union (Israel)
The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:...
, itself an alliance of right-wing parties led by Binyamin Elon
Binyamin Elon
Rabbi 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
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
's government and Lieberman was made Minister of Transport. However, the party left the government on 6 June 2004, in response to the disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel'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 all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
. 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 Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
'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 Peretz
Amir Peretz
Amir 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 Majadele
Raleb Majadele
Ghaleb Majadele is an Israeli Arab politician. A member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, he became the country's first Muslim minister when appointed Minister without Portfolio on 28 January 2007.-Biography:...
for the position of Minister of Science and Technology
Science, Culture and Sport Minister of Israel
The 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 party...
, 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 Tartman
Esterina Tartman
Esterina 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 cabinet
Cabinet of Israel
The Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials called ministers, chosen and led by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister must appoint members based on the distribution of votes to political parties during legislative elections, and its composition must be approved by a...
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 Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts 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 elections
Israeli legislative election, 2009
Elections 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 Levy
Orly Levy
Orly Levy-Abekasis is an Israeli politician. She is a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.-Biography:...
(daughter of former Likud
Likud
Likud 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 Levy
David Levy (Israeli politician)
David Levy is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1969 and 2006, as well as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Housing & Construction and as a Minister without Portfolio...
) and Anastasia Michaeli, two former models and current television hosts. Knesset members Yosef Shagal
Yosef Shagal
Yosef 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 Minister
Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel
The 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 LineGreen Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements 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 area
Triangle (Israel)
The 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; this area is located within the easternmost boundaries of both the Center District and...
and the Wadi Ara
Wadi Ara
Wadi 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. Today, Highway 65 runs through the wadi.-Geography:...
, both gained by Israel as part of the 1949 Armistice Agreements
1949 Armistice Agreements
The 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 Israeli forces and the forces in...
, would be transferred to Arab sovereignty. Known as the Lieberman Plan
Lieberman Plan
The Lieberman Plan, also known in Israel as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed in May 2004 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.
Avigdor 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 Israeli citizenship and moving to a future Palestinian State. Lieberman has presented this proposal as part of a potential peace deal aimed at establishing two separate national entities
Two-state solution
The 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 Jews in Israel and the other for Arabs in Palestine. However, he is known to have an affinity for the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
population (the only Arab population to be fully drafted into the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of 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 Heights who voted for the party in protest. Druze candidate Hamad Amar
Hamad Amar
Hamad Amar is an Israeli Druze politician and currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Amar performed his national service in the IDF between 1982 and 1986. He earned a BA in sociology at Safed College, and later studied law. He worked as an assistant to Avigdor...
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. Palestinians mark Nakba Day
Nakba Day
Nakba Day is generally commemorated on May 15, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli independence day...
on 15 May 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.
Conversion Bill
Yisrael Beiteinu, particularly MK David RotemDavid 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...
, has promoted a reform of the Law of Return
Law of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
which would undertake the following measures:
- Potentially but not officially make the Law of Return applicable exclusively to born Jews, and Orthodox Converts as well as their offspring rather than converts to mainline sects of Judaism from other religions if those converts visited Israel at any point prior to conversion
- make clearer delineations between the Law of Return and the Citizenship Law
- broaden the power of the Chief Rabbinate of IsraelChief Rabbinate of IsraelThe Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
by authorizing Chief Rabbinate-appointed municipal rabbis to carry out conversions and marriages for the converted
The Conversion Bill has been heavily criticized by various religious groups in both Israel and other countries; Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
and United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters...
initially balked at the bill due to perceived contradictions against Jewish law, but eventually reached a compromise, while member organizations of the World Union for Progressive Judaism
World Union for Progressive Judaism
The World Union for Progressive Judaism describes itself as the "international umbrella organization for the Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements." This overall Jewish religious movement is based in about 40 countries with more than 1,000 affiliated synagogues...
(including the IMPJ
Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism is the organizational branch of Progressive Judaism in Israel. It currently has around 30 communities around the state of Israel including two kibbutzim, Yahel and Lotan, Israel....
and the Union for Reform Judaism
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
's Religious Action Center) heavily objected against the bill's further centering of religious power in the hands of the predominately-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate of Israel, discriminating against converts to Progressive Judaism and potentially alienating non-Orthodox Jews in the Jewish diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
.
Other policies
MK Lia ShemtovLia 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...
is known for her opposition to the Israeli welfare-to-work plan (known as the "Wisconsin Plan"), along with the rest of the party.
The party also supports increasing the police force, improving education, easing conversions and secular/non-religious civil unions. The last two points are particularly popular with the Russian immigrant community who vote heavily for the party. These items angered some of the religious parties such as Shas with Shas's Rabbi Ovadia Yossef claiming that "Whoever votes for Lieberman gives strength to Satan," and claims that the party is a danger to religious matters in Israel.
Perception
A large number of mainstream mediaMainstream media
Mainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...
sources, within and outside of Israel, label the party, and Lieberman, as right wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
and even far right or ultra nationalist. At the same time however, the party does recognize a two-state solution
Two-state solution
The 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 a secular
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
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" populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
.
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, Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
's Minister of Finance Roni Bar-On
Roni Bar-On
Roni Bar-On is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima and is a former Minister of Finance.-Biography:...
said "It's a Jewish party, Zionist and serious." The party phenomenon was explained by Gershom Gorenberg
Gershom Gorenberg
Gershom 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 administration
Presidency of Barack Obama
The 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...
, Avigdor Lieberman stated that Yisrael Beiteinu was neither far-right, nor ultra-nationalist.
Yehuda Ben-Meir wrote in the left-wing Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz 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 BeilinYossi 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. He is best known for his involvement with the...
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.com
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. 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...
, 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 (aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
) and settlement expansion, Yisrael Beiteinu's platform is based in part on the creation of a Palestinian state adjacent to Israel
Two-state solution
The 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.'
Yisrael Beiteinu has drawn equally strong criticism from the Left, in large part due to the Lieberman Plan
Lieberman Plan
The Lieberman Plan, also known in Israel as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed in May 2004 by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu...
's proposed land and population transfers along ethnic lines. This focus on ethnicity and religion has drawn comparisons with the now defunct Kach
Kach and Kahane Chai
Kach was a far-right political party in Israel. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in the early 1970s, and following his Jewish nationalist ideology , the party entered the Knesset in 1984 after several electoral failures...
party.
The Lieberman Plan
Lieberman Plan
The Lieberman Plan, also known in Israel as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed in May 2004 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 few exceptions, Arabs in Israel argue that they have lived in the region for centuries, and should not have to renounce the villages and cities in which they, their parents, and their grandparents were born (although the plan calls for a transfer of sovereignty, rather than population). 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.
Allegations of anti-Arabism
Two Israeli Arab journalists were excluded from a campaign gathering held by Yisrael Beiteinu in HaifaHaifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
Deputy Mayor Yulia Shtraim, a member of the party's municipal faction, said she would not allow the journalists to enter the hall "because of the Arabs' demonstration and what [the demonstrators] say about Lieberman." The Israeli Arab journalists were denied access, despite possessing press cards, being told that they were uninvited. However uninvited Jewish and foreign media were allowed in.
Young fans waiting for outside a Yisrael Beiteinu conference shouted the slogans "No loyalty, no citizenship" and "Death to Arabs" at passersby.
Organisation
Yisrael Beiteinu runs for local elections under the name of the city that they run in, e.g. Petah TikvaPetah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
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 pork (which is treif
Kashrut
Kashrut 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" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
and haraam
Haraam
Haraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
) in general stores.
Knesset members
- Avigdor Lieberman
- Uzi LandauUzi LandauUzi 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 MisezhnikovStas MisezhnikovStas 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 AharonovichYitzhak Aharonovich-External links:...
- Sofa LandverSofa LandverSofa 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....
- Orly LevyOrly LevyOrly Levy-Abekasis is an Israeli politician. She is a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.-Biography:...
- Danny Ayalon
- David RotemDavid RotemDavid 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
- Faina KirschenbaumFaina KirschenbaumFaina Kirschenbaum is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Born in Lviv , Kirschenbaum made aliyah to Israel on 31 December 1973...
- Robert IlatovRobert IlatovRobert 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 AmarHamad AmarHamad Amar is an Israeli Druze politician and currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Amar performed his national service in the IDF between 1982 and 1986. He earned a BA in sociology at Safed College, and later studied law. He worked as an assistant to Avigdor...
- Moshe Mutz Matlon
- Lia ShemtovLia 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...
- Alex MillerAlex Miller (Israeli politician)Alex Miller is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu.-Biography:Born in Moscow, Russia , Miller made aliyah to Israel on January 29, 1992...
External links
- Official website
- Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset website
- Video on Yisrael Beiteinu