by Hillel Fendel
The Religious Zionism Party, founded last month by former Transportation Minister and MK Betzalel Smotrich, has received the support of leading Yeshiva heads and others - even in the face of protests from the dwindling Jewish Home party.
The new party's predecessor, the Ichud HaLeumi (National Union), had been expected to continue its partnership and political cooperation with Naftali Bennett's Yemina [Rightward] party, as it did in previous election campaigns. However, Smotrich last month took the brave and surprising step of splitting with Bennett. Why? In what might have served as the basis for the platform of the new Religious Zionism party, he explained at length:
"Leaving Yemina does not mean I have changed my philosophy or outlook. On the contrary, I have not budged even a millimeter over the past six years that I have been in the Knesset. I have not abandoned my values, my path, my vision, or my commitment to those who support religious-Zionism and what it stands for. Unfortunately, it was Naftali [Bennett] who abandoned these values.
"As a person, Naftali is a fine guy and I continue to be his friend. But I don't cast my ballot in accordance with a candidate's good looks, but only according to what he is planning to do with my vote. I listen to what he says, and what he says is this: He has no intention of advancing anything on the nationalist agenda, but plans to put all his efforts into the Corona-stricken economy. He is not planning to deal with the left-wing bent of the legal system, nor to strengthen the country's Jewish identity, nor to strengthen the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. Nor will he strive for sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and not even to return the foreign infiltrators who sneak into our borders. He said straight out: "I'm putting everything else to the side." And this means of course that he wishes to grant legitimacy to joining up with a center-left party, such as that of Yair Lapid, so that he can form a government coalition with it.
"I, on the other hand [Smotrich continued], want to deal with the issues that are important to the Nation of Israel – without abandoning my principles. Bennett was speaking in the Knesset and said emphatically, 'If it doesn't have to do with making a living, it's of no interest.' Nothing else matters to him. It has been said that I was a good Transportation Minister – and I did not put aside my values when serving in that position. I will continue to deal with the issues that matter to the man in the street, while at the same time ensuring that we continue to emphasize the struggles for Judea and Samaria, for our rights to the entire Jewish Land, and for a just legal system."
Smotrich has faced some tricky political obstacles over the past couple of weeks, drawing both praise and criticism for a) having joined up in a technical bloc with Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been painted in the media as an "extreme rightist," and b) for having not reached a similar agreement with Jewish Home chairwoman Hagit Moshe.
Smotrich accused the latter of seeking to repress his attempts to unite his and her parties into one united religious-Zionist party. Moshe then followed some other former Jewish Home members and joined up with Bennett, who offered her a ministerial post in the government he hopes to form. Though the Jewish Home, running on its own, was found in surveys to receive only 0.6% of the vote, it is assumed that a fair amount of those who consider themselves religious-Zionists will now vote for Yemina.
Smotrich has picked up some notable endorsements, including most notably from national-religious camp elder statesman Rabbi Chaim Druckman and a group of leading Yeshiva deans. The latter group, including Rabbis Yehoshua Shapira of Yeshivat Ramat Gan and Rabbi Chaim Ganz of Yeshivat Maaleh Eliyahu in Tel Aviv, issued a letter stating, in part: "Having come in close contact with MK Betzalel Smotrich over the course of recent years, we wish to attest to his being among the greatest of those who work for the public good with faith and dedication… We are well aware that he engages in every public activity directly and without foreign considerations. He works with zeal and courage, balanced out by humility, by virtue of which he is as strong as a rock and worthy of serving the Nation of Israel…"
In addition, PM Netanyahu's brother-in-law Dr. Hagi Ben-Artzi and Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Aryeh King also both endorsed Smotrich and his new party. King congratulated Smotrich for the unity he achieved in the religious-nationalist camp by signing with Ben-Gvir and his ally, the smaller Noam party.
It can only be hoped that in the remaining six weeks before Israel's national election – its fourth in less than two years – the tensions in the national-religious camp will simmer down, and the two parties will not attack each other. A party that does not receive at least 3.25% of the vote will not make it into the Knesset at all. The conventional political wisdom is that Smotrich has a good shot at receiving 4-5 Knesset seats, but that if he does not get in, these seats will be lost to the nationalist camp – and so will be Netanyahu's chance at forming a government. Thus, it is in the interest of Bennett's party, as well as that of the Likud, that the Religious Zionism party succeeds in the coming election.