Yamina

Yamina or Yemina (Hebrew: ימינה‎; lit., rightwards)[1] is an Israeli political alliance of right-wing parties that was originally configured as the New Right and the Union of Right-Wing Parties (a union of The Jewish Home and Tkuma).[2][3] The current incarnation of the alliance includes the New Right[4] while The Jewish Home left the alliance on 14 July 2020[5] and the Religious Zionist Party left on 20 January 2021.[6]

For people with the name Yamina, see Yamina (name).
Yamina

ימינה‎
LeaderNaftali Bennett
Founded29 July 2019 (first time)
15 January 2020 (revival)
Dissolved10 October 2019 (first time)
IdeologyZionism
National conservatism
Economic liberalism
Factions:
Religious Zionism
Secularism
Political positionRight-wing
Member partiesNew Right
Former:
The Jewish Home (until 2020)
National Union (until 2021)
Colours       
SloganIsrael wants to go right.
Knesset
3 / 120
Election symbol
טב‎ (2019-2021)
י‎ (2021-)
Website
yemina.co.il

The list was created ahead of the September 2019 Israeli legislative election, in which Yamina secured seven seats in the Knesset.[7] The alliance was expected to split on 6 October, with the New Right as its own faction while Tkuma and the Jewish Home will stay together, though the alliance continued to negotiate as a single bloc in the aftermath of the election.[8] The meeting on 6 October was postponed, with some citing disagreements on whether Yamina should split, while others referred to it as a "technical" matter.[9] The alliance did split on 10 October 2019,[10] and re-formed on 15 January 2020 in the run-up to the 2020 Israeli legislative election.[4]

Background

On 21 July 2019, after not making it past the electoral threshold in the April 2019 Israeli legislative election, New Right leader Naftali Bennett decided to give leadership of the party to Ayelet Shaked. In her opening leadership speech, Shaked declared that she will seek to unite with the Union of Right-Wing Parties (URWP) and other right-wing parties.[11]

The following day, negotiations with the URWP began. The negotiations initially stalled, as URWP leader Rafi Peretz was unwilling to concede leadership of the list to Shaked, and disagreements arose over how many spots each of the three involved parties would receive on the list. Another subject that arose in the negotiations was whether the radical former URWP member Otzma Yehudit should be included in the new joint list.[12]

Sara Netanyahu (the wife of the prime minister) was recorded speaking with Rafi Peretz' wife, Michal Peretz, in an attempt to convince Peretz to retain his number one slot on the list; she was unsuccessful. It was also revealed that Benjamin Netanyahu was involved (despite his denial).[13] The URWP and the New Right agreed to a joint run on 29 July 2019, with the New Right's Ayelet Shaked leading the joint list. As part of the agreement, the alliance declared that they would negotiate together to establish a right-wing government under Benjamin Netanyahu.[14]

On 22 April 2020, it was reported that Bennett was now "considering all options" for Yamina's political future, including departing from Netanyahu's government, which had just agreed to form a joint government with leader of the opposition Blue and White party Benny Gantz, and joining the opposition. Bennett was reported to be unhappy with the new coalition government's decision to hold back on the issue of judicial reform.[15]

In May 2020, Yamina announced that it would go to opposition.[16] The day before, Peretz, the leader of The Jewish Home, had split from the party, and would be named as the Minister of Jerusalem in the thirty-fifth government of Israel.[17][18][19] On 17 May 2020, Bennett met with Gantz, who also succeeded him as Defence Minister, and declared that Yamina was now a "head held high" member of the opposition.[20]

Tkuma, which rebranded as the Religious Zionist Party on 7 January 2021,[21] split from Yamina on 20 January.[6]

Principles

Ayelet Shaked listed 11 principles that the Yamina list is determined to uphold:[22]

  1. Jewish Identity: We will work to strengthen the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, and to strengthen the connection of Israeli students to the Torah, the Land of Israel, and the Jewish religious heritage.
  2. Nationality: We will act for the implementation of the Nation-state Law and the prevention of any harm to it, while continuing to ensure individual rights and equality for all Israeli citizens.
  3. Unity of the land: We are the only party that opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and any withdrawal from the territories of the Land of Israel. We will work to develop settlements throughout the country.
  4. Sovereignty: We will act for the full and equitable application of national sovereignty and the rule of law to all citizens and residents of Israel, including the end of the military administration of Judea and Samaria and the application of Israeli sovereignty to the territories of Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley.
  5. Determination against terror: We will defeat terrorism with determination and without compromise, we will defeat Gaza border terrorism and end the allowances paid to terrorists by the Palestinian Authority. We will bring back the corpses of IDF soldiers and charge a price from Hamas for its actions, with total resistance to the release of imprisoned terrorists. We will act to assist disabled IDF veterans and the victims of the conflict.
  6. Aliyah: We will work towards the implementation of a national Aliyah policy, which will promote Jewish immigration and remove unnecessary barriers to immigration. We will prevent illegal immigration of migrant workers to Israel and prevent the abuse of family re-unification policies.
  7. Competition and liberty: We will promote competition to break up monopolies and cartels, open the economy to international competition, and reduce central planning in the economy. We will promote competition in the housing market, release land for construction, and implement taxation policies that will spur development. We will streamline regulation, reduce the regulatory burden on employers, which will encourage employment and productivity, and create a comfortable environment for a sharing economy and the high tech industry.
  8. Right to work: We will reform the labor law so that unions can only represent all workers in a workplace if they have a majority of its workers unionized. We will implement mandatory government arbitration to solve labor disputes in essential government services and increase transparency in labor organizations.
  9. Governability: We will strengthen the values of governability and democracy. We will strengthen the status of the Knesset as a legislative authority and restore confidence in the Supreme Court as the judicial authority, in accordance with the law. We will strengthen the status of elected officials in the face of the un-elected bureaucracy.
  10. Social responsibility: We will enact economic and medical protection for the disabled and the elderly, while integrating people with disabilities in education, society, and the labor market.
  11. Galilee and the Negev: We will strengthen the Galilee and the Negev with additional employment opportunities, housing, health care, tourism, culture, and transport. We will encourage capital investment and private initiatives that will strengthen human capital and allow families to settle and remain in the Galilee and the Negev. We will strengthen agriculture and the Labor settlements.

Alongside these united principles, each party retains its own independent platform. Thus, the New Right represents the more "liberal" Religious and Secular right, The Jewish Home represents "mainstream" Religious Zionism, while Tkuma represents the more hawkish and Chardal Religious Zionists.

Composition

Current
Name Ideology Position Leader Current MKs
New Right National conservatism, Economic liberalism Right-wing Naftali Bennett
3 / 120

Former
Name Ideology Position Leader Current MKs
The Jewish Home Religious Zionism, Religious conservatism Right-wing to far-right Rafi Peretz
1 / 120
National Union Religious Zionism, Ultranationalism Far-right Bezalel Smotrich
2 / 120

Candidate list

Yamina currently has three members in the 23rd Knesset.[4]

  - New Right,   - The Jewish Home,   - National Union

Name Notes
Naftali Bennett Former head of the New Right and the Jewish Home, and former Minister of Defense
Ayelet Shaked Party leader and head of the New Right. Former Minister of Justice
Matan Kahana Former Sayeret Matkal officer and F-16 Squadron Commander

One member left Yamina during the parliamentary term:

Name Notes
Rafi Peretz Head of The Jewish Home. Minister of Education, and former chief of the Military Rabbinate

Two members left Yamina after the dissolution of the Knesset:

Name Notes
Bezalel Smotrich Head of the National Union. Minister of Transport and co-founder of the NGO Regavim
Ofir Sofer Secretary General of the National Union

Leaders
Leader Took office Left office
Ayelet Shaked 2019 2019
Naftali Bennett 2020 Present

Election results
Election year Party Leader # of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall seats
won		 +/- Gov?
September 2019 Ayelet Shaked 260,655 5.87
7 / 120
 1 Snap election
2020 Naftali Bennett 240,162 5.25
6 / 120
 1 Opposition

References
  1. "United Right to run under name 'Yemina'". Arutz Sheva. 12 August 2019.
  2. Jeremy Sharon (30 July 2019). "Right-wing parties form alliance to be led by Shaked". The Jerusalem Post.
  3. staff, T. O. I.; Magid, Jacob. "Likud again pushing to get extremists into Knesset on far-right slate". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 31 July 2020. far-right Jewish Home and National Union factions
  4. Staff writer (15 January 2020). "Bennett, Peretz, Smotrich agree to joint run without Ben Gvir". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  5. Hezki Baruch (14 July 2020). "Jewish Home formally splits off from Yamina". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  6. Hoffman, Gil (20 January 2021). "Bennett's Yamina party formally splits". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  7. "95% of votes counted: 33 seats for Blue & White, 32 for Likud". The Jerusalem Post. 18 September 2019.
  8. "Yamina to officially split on Sunday". The Jerusalem Post. 4 October 2019.
  9. Jacob Magid (7 October 2019). "Ahead of Yamina split, Smotrich calls for religious slates to stick together". The Times of Israel.
  10. Raoul Wootliff (10 October 2019). "Yamina party officially splits into New Right, Jewish Home-National Union". The Times of Israel.
  11. Jacob Magid (21 July 2019). "Taking reins from Bennett, Shaked urges right-wing slates to unite beneath her". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  12. Raoul Wootliff (1 August 2019). "Extremist Otzma Yehudit still seeking merger with United Right as deadline nears". Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  13. "Leaked recordings reveal Sara Netanyahu's efforts to sabotage URWP-Shaked merger". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  14. "New Right, United Right reach final agreement on joint run". Arutz Sheva. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  15. Wootliff, Raoul (22 April 2020). "Netanyahu speaks with Bennett as Yamina considers joining unity government". Times of Israel. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  16. Gur, Haviv Rettig. "How vulnerable is Netanyahu? A right-wing backbencher gives PM cause for worry". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  17. "After year of deadlock and days of delays, Knesset swears in new Israeli government". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  18. Ido Ben Porat (15 May 2020). "Rabbi Rafi Peretz signs coalition agreement with the Likud". Arutz Sheva.
  19. "Minister Rafi Peretz Leaves Yamina to Join New Government". Hamodia. 14 May 2020.
  20. Magid, Jacob. "Yamina chair says party heading to opposition with 'head held high'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  21. Hoffman, Gil (7 January 2021). "'Post' poll shows mergers capable of bringing down Netanyahu". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  22. Ayelet Shaked (8 August 2019). "אנחנו בימין המאוחד מחויבים, בראש ובראשונה, לציבור בישראל ולערכי הימין". Facebook (in Hebrew). Retrieved 5 August 2019.
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