National Religious Party
Originally a pragmatic centrist party in its first two decades of existence, it gradually leaned rightward in the following years, particularly becoming increasingly associated with Israeli settlers.The founders of the party were Yosef Burg and Haim-Moshe Shapira (both from Hapoel HaMizrachi), who focused their activity mainly on the status of Judaism within the framework of Israeli society.The NRP operated a trade union (under the same name as the old workers' party, Hapoel HaMizrachi), a newspaper (HaTzofe), and a youth movement (Bnei Akiva).The seeds of change were sown in 1967, when Israel's victory in the Six-Day War spawned messianic trends among religious Israeli Jews that resulted in many members of the NRP moving further right.[4] Around 1969, a new generation arose in the NRP, led by Zevulun Hammer and Yehuda Ben-Meir, called "the youth", demanding that the party pay more attention to socio-economic issues in addition to its concerns about Judaism and the modern state.However, the four other Knesset Members of the NRP supported Orlev's stand that the party should remain in the coalition and thwart the disengagement plan from the inside.[7] It was decided that the NRP would resign from the government if: On 9 November 2004, after Ariel Sharon declined the NRP's demand to hold a national referendum regarding the disengagement, Zevulun Orlev and the party resigned from the coalition and the government, vowing to pursue general elections in an effort to replace Sharon with a right-wing prime minister.The party was the patron of most of the national religious schools (חינוך ממלכתי-דתי), which teach both Judaism and general mandatory educational subjects such as mathematics, English, literature, physics, biology, etc.They also ran Yeshivot Hesder, an idea developed by Rav Yehuda Amital in which religious soldiers combine combat military service with learning Torah.The party believes that the land of Israel is holy and belongs to the Jews based on God's promise to Abraham, and later to Isaac and Jacob.The party argued that affairs of personal status, (such as marriage, divorces, and burial), should be kept under the authority of Israel's rabbis (or other religious clerics for non-Jews).Regarding conversions to Judaism performed within Israel, the NRP found itself on the same side of the debate as the secular, and opposed to the views of the Haredi parties, particularly Shas.The party advocated that the Israeli Chief Rabbinate must act to ease the procedures for anyone who wants to convert, following the Neeman Committee (ועדת נאמן) recommendations.Historically, the NRP initiated the regulations allowing yeshiva students to avoid military service, and supported that position over a long time.In the 2000s, the NRP explicitly stated that participation in the Israeli army was a Mitzvah and a moral obligation, and stressed that its "finest youth... serve in the elite commando and combat units in the IDF".The NRP's views on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict can be summarized as: However, the party did agree to giving the Palestinian Arabs self-governing autonomy, subject to Israel's authority only in matters of security and foreign affairs (such as in borders and diplomacy), without the dismantling of the Jewish settlements.Male religious Zionists can be recognized by their colorful hand-knitted kippah (כיפה, yarmulka or "skull cap"), hence their nickname: הכיפות הסרוגות (Ha-Kippot Ha-Srugot, lit.