By Stan Goodenough
Nov 05, 2008
With general elections in Israel set for February 10, 2009, the Jewish state's political parties on the right are working to firm up their hawkish credentials as campaigning gets underway.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading the trend in a direction that offers some hope to Jews and Christians concerned about defending Israel's territorial integrity and bolstering the country's defenses against the burgeoning existential threats to its future.
"Bibi," as he is popularly known, chairs the official opposition Likud Party and is widely expected to win the elections.
Sunday morning the news broke that former Likud MK and Minister Ze'ev (Benny) Begin would once again run for elections on the party ticket nine years after resigning in protest against Netanyahu's signing of the Wye River Accords with Yasser Arafat.
Begin announced his intention to run following a reported meeting with Netanyahu Saturday night. Although a political gem in the former prime minister's crown, he made it clear that he wanted no preferential treatment, insisting that he will run for a Knesset seat on his own merits.
The son of the late former Prime Minister Menachem Begin - who was arguably the only Israel leader ever to defy the wishes of an American president - "Benny" is also known as Mr. Integrity.
Like his father, the he maintains a frugal lifestyle, and was noted for having traveled to the Knesset Israeli parliament by bus for the 11 years he served as a Knesset member.
Also Sunday at a press conference called by Netanyahu, former Israel Defense Forces Spokeswoman Miri Regev announced her intention to run for a place on the Likud's list.
While she had defended the Sharon government's uprooting of 9000 Jews from their Gaza homes in 2005, Regev insisted Sunday that while she had not been allowed to reveal her personal political position while in the military, she now wants it known that she was opposed to the "Disengagement."
"It is wrong to give land without receiving anything in return," she said.
In other political developments, four right wing parties announced Monday that they were merging into a single party under the banner of "putting education first."
Described as a "historic: event, the National Religious Party, which is Israel's second-oldest, blended with the National Union, Moledet and Tekumah parties.
The new entity will hold primaries to choose its new leaders.
NRP's Zevulun Orlev said the new party constitutes "unity by the Zionist religious camp," and Knesset Member Tzvi Hendel said "anyone who identifies with our path can join and decide who our leader will be.
"Everyone is invited to [join] the party except for the extremists who are happy when they see Arab bloodshed or happy when they see settlements evacuated," Hendel said.
Less promising were Hendel's words indicating the new party would be willing to go along with the division of Israel's historic lands.
"I believe that all of Israel is ours, but in practice we shall have to divide it," he said. "The question is how, and what is the principle behind this."
A name for the new party will be made known in the coming days.