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The Mafdal (In Hebrew writing מפד"ל ) is an Israeli political party representing the religious Zionist movement. Mafdal is an accronymous for מפלגה דתית לאומית , National Religious Party or NRP for short.
The Religious Zionist Movement (RZM for short) is a faction within the Zionist movement which justifies the Zionist efforts to build a Jewish state in the land of Israel on the basis of the Jewish religion. The main ideologist of the RZM was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook who funded the RZM and urged young religious Jews to support the Zionist efforts to settle Israel and effect the secular Labour Zionists to pay more attention and thoughtfulness toward Judaism. Rabbi Kook saw Zionisn as a part of a divine scheme which will result at the end in resettling of the Jewish people in its homeland and the coming of the Messiah.
The Mafdal was created after Hapoel Ha-Mizrachi ("The Workers Religious Centre") and Ha-Mizrachi ("The Religious Centre") merged on 1956. From them until 1973 it had about 10-12 seats in the Knesset. The funders of the Mafdal were doctor Jossef Burg and Haim Moshe Shapira who focused Mafdal activity mainly on religious issues and building a Jewish society rather than secular one. Their goal was to encourage and build immigration toward Israel, development and settlements of Israel and educating the youth in Jewish manner.
The Mafdal has operated a trade union (Hapoel Ha-Mizrahi), a newspaper (Ha-Tzofe) and a youth-movement (Bnei Akiva). The newspaper and the youth movement still exist today and are as vivid and vital as ever.
At 1969 a new generation rose in the Mafdal, led by the late Zvulon Hamer and by Yeuda Ben-Meir demanded the party will also handle social and economical issues, and not just on national and religious issues.
In the 1980s Mafdal seats were shrunk for 6 but it still had great influence. Although Mafdal is considered to be a right-wing party, it was willing to form a government with the Israeli Labor Party and even Meretz but also formed governments with Begin's Herut and later - the Likud.
In the 1970s and 1980s Mafdal supported the settlement movement in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and built there schools, Yeshivot and synagogues.
In 1997, Zvulon Hamer, then the Education minister, passed away because of a heart attack.
Mafdal is a Zionist party and states that Israel is a "Jewish democratic state". The Mafdal main goal is to contribute as much as it can to the state of Israel and influence its character to be more Jewish, including to fight till death for the protection of Israel and for maintaining Israel's security.
Unlike Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties (Shas and United Torah Judaism) the Mafdal isn't keen to enforce Medinat Halacha - a theocarcy running according to the Jewish Rabbinic law. The Mafdal want to keep Israel's democartic character and make the Israelis better people and better Jews by using as role-models and teaching them Judaism and tradition with love and kindness. Also, Mafdal holds that Ultra Orthodox Jews must also complete 3 years of mandatory military service.
The Mafdal also emphasis national unity and vowed to use as bridge between the different parts of Israeli soceity.
They call it Ahavat Israel אהבת ישראל (Love of Israel).
The Mafdal is 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. It even sponsors some pre-military schools for giving higher education to future IDF officers and commanders. Besides funding and patronising national religious schools it also supports Yeshiva schools and Beit Midrash schools, places dedicated solely to learning the Torah. They also run "Yeshivot Hesder", places that allow religious soldiers to combine combat military service with learning Torah.
Mafdal believes that the land of Israel is holy and belongs to the Jews on the basis of God's promise to Abraham and later to Itzhak and Jacob. They believe it is God's will to settle all the land of Israel and nurture it. This principle has great impact on Mafdal policy toward the disputed territories and the Palestinian issue.
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The Mafdal is against separation of religion and state and believe that Israel should keep its special Jewish character and enhance its commitment to the Jewish heritage.
The Mafdal argues that affairs of personal state (such as marriage, divorces and burial) should be kept within the sovereignty of the Rabbis (or other religious clerics for non-Jews). It also states that only orthodox conversion is valid but advocates that the Rabbinate must act to ease the procedures for non-Jews who want to convert.
The Mafdal claims that the Jewish state must show respect for the Jewish religion by preserving the Sabbath and Kosher food in its institution and organizations (such as the IDF, the police and governmental companies such as El Al national airline).
Judea and Shomron were parts of the ancient kingdom of Israel and Mafdal considers them as an integral part of the homeland. Therefore, it sees nothing wrong in resettling the old land after 2000 years of exile. Moreover, Mafdal sees the settlements as noble idealistic acts to keep the Mitzvah of settling the land of Israel. That is the reason why it supports them and many of its supporters and parliament members are settlers.
While others are willing to give up territories to a future Palestinian state, the Mafdal is ruling out that option. The 4 principles are:
However, Mafdal does agree of giving the Palestinian Arabs a self-governing autonomy, subjected to Israel only in matters of security and foreign affairs (borders, diplomacy). That, of course, without the dismantling of the settlements.
After the outbreak of violent riots and massive waves of terrorism against Israel by Palestinian Arabs, Mafdal demanded harsh military response to "root out terror infrastructure". It also called to disband the "terror supportive" Palestinian Authority and to deport the PLO back to Tunis.
Mafdal believes that Israel can stop the waves of Palestinian violence by using military force adequately.
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Mafdal does not hold a complete economic ideology (such as Marxism or Capitalism). However, Mafdal believes that Israeli society and the state of Israel should support the poor and the needy. This, they said, is derived from the Mitzvot of the Torah.
In the 15th Knesset, Mafdal passed out 40 laws protecting the rights of weak populations and citizens. It was the leading party in social lawmaking per Knesset members. Zvulon Orlev, Mafdal's Knesset member, won the award of the Best legistlator of the 15th Knesset
The Mafdal have 6 seats in the current Knesset (16th Knesset). The member of parliament are:
Mafdal supports composed mainly from the religious Zionists, who are ideologic religious Jews, which obey all the laws and commandment (Mitzvah) of Judaism. They are considered as highly-motivated and disciplined soldiers and have excellent reputation of contributing to the Israeli state and the Israeli society. However, they are idealist and very stubborn concerning ideology issues. Many of them are living in West Bank settlements.
The religious Zionists can be recognized by their colorful hand knitted yarmulkah (skull-cap , כיפה ) and therefore their nickname is הכיפות הסרוגות (Ha-Kippot Ha-Srugot", lit. "The Knitted Yarmulkhas").
There is a lot of critism that the Mafdal is focused too much on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and neglects other issues such as education, social responsibility and Ahavat Israel.
Critics from the Left insist that Mafdal's stubbornness on keeping the settlements is an "obstacle for peace" while critics from the Right say Mafdal isn't pressuring enough to use more military power against Palestinian terrorism.
Critism from religious parties such as Shas and Agudat Israel scorn Mafdal for sitting in the coalition with an ultra-secular party Shinui (which is often described as "anti-religious") and not doing enough to keep the Jewish character of Israel. For example, they state that Mafdal shows little, if any, resistance or dismay, against Internal Minister Avraham Poraz's decision not to enforce the prohibition of selling bread during Passover.
Despite all the criticism, Mafdal has a reputation of honesty and dedication to its parliamentary duties. None of its Knesset members has been blamed in corruption.
Mafdal is a member on the current government led by prime minister Ariel Sharon and has 2 ministers on the cabinet. Efi Eitam is the Housing minister and Zvulon Orlev is the Labor & Welfare minister. Rabbi Itzhak Levi is a deputy minister responsible for the Religions ministry (currently in disbanding procedures).
Mafdal is forming the current government's coalition along with the Likud, Shinui and the National Union, which is based on the following base principles:
Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004 from the Gaza Strip which hints at the removal of Jewish settlements from the strip, caused great controversy within the Mafdal. Sharon has sacked two cabinet ministers from the National Union in order to achieve a majority for approving the plan in his government. Mafdal declared it is resisting the plan and any removal of Jews living in Gush Katif. Following Mafdal and part of the Likud resistance, the government only approved a "fixed" plan with reservation that dismantling of Jewish communities should be voted on separately.
Few days after the resolution, Efi Eitam and Rabbi Itzhak Levi resigned from the government. However, the four other Knesset Members of the Mafdal supported Zvulon Orlev's stand that Mafdal should remain in the coalition and thwart the plan from inside. As for today ( July 6 ), Mafdal faction in the Knesset is split in two:
On September 13, 2004, the Mafdal's "center" (a forum consists of all Mafdal's party members with a voting right) voted between Efi Eitam's proposal of immediate quiting of the government and Zvulon Orlev's proposal to leave the government only when it approve actual removal of settlements. Eitam and Orlev agreed that the "center" decision will be binding. The "center" supported Orlev's proposal by 65%-35%. Orlev proposal states that Mafdal will stay in the government in condition that the government will not hold a general referendum ( משאל עם ) on removal of Israeli settlements, which will require special majority, before the issue will be brought to decision on the Knesset. If such a referendum will not be held, or if the government will approve de-facto removal of Israeli settlements, Mafdal will immidetly quit the government.
It was decided the Mafdal will quit the government if one of the following will occure:
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