National Union

This article is about the Israeli political party. For the party of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, see National Union (Portugal)

National Union (Hebrew: Ha'ihud Ha'Leumi) is an Israeli political party formed from the merger of three right-wing parties: Moledet ("homeland"), Israel Beytenu ("Israel is our home"), and Tekuma ("foundation"). The three parties still operate somewhat independently, but run as one party list in Israeli elections.

The party was formed in 1999 by Rehavam Zeevi, the leader of Moledet, as an alliance with Herut and Tekuma. Herut later left the union, and in 2000 was replaced by Israel Beytenu, a party comprised largely of Russian immigrants and led by Avigdor Lieberman, former secretary to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (1996-1999) and himself a Russian immigrant in the early 1980s. Lieberman became leader of the National Union in 2001 following the assassination of Zeevi (at the time the Israeli tourism minister) by Islamic terrorists in the Hyatt hotel in Jerusalem.

The party has as its goal to "become a ruling party in association with other parties that share the values and ideology of the national camp, i.e. the realization of Zionist goals, and respect for the heritage and values of the Jewish people." The party is made up of both secular and religious Jews, with current deputy leader Benny Elon receiving training as a Rabbi, while its Russian component (Israel Beytenu) is largely secular.

The National Union is strongly opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river, pledging that another political entity besides Israel "will not rise between Jordan and the sea." It also states as an objective that "the funds which were being transferred to the Palestinian Authority by the Israeli government, will henceforth be used for reparations for the damage Israel has suffered during the period of terror." The National Union agenda states that it "seeks true peace based on agreement between the parties (Israel and the Arabs)." The National Union recognises that within the framework of any agreement, it is necessary to solve the Palestinian Arab refugee problem—refugees who have spent the past 55 years in refugee camps. These refugees were created by the Arab states when they initiated wars against Israel both in 1948 (War of Independence) and 1967 (Six-Day war) with the objective of destroying the Jewish state. The National Union's proposed solution is "transfer by agreement (population exchange) by which the refugees would be settled in Arab countries in place of Jews who emigrated to Israel from these countries." Approximately 1 million Jews emigrated to Israel from the Arab world in the period 1948-1968 and today they constitute (inclusive of their descendants) 2.7 million Israeli citizens. The National Union seeks to bring attention to the plight of the Jewish refugees from the Arab world and sees the Arab states as responsible for the refugee problem "both Jewish and Arab".

The party won 7 of the 120 seats in the 16th seating of Israel's unicameral parliament, the Knesset (elected in January 2003).

Knesset members

• Moledet
  • Benny Elon
  • Arie Eldad

• Yisrael Beytenu
  • Yuri Stern
  • Eliezer Cohen
  • Michael Noodleman
  • Uri Uriel

• Tkuma