(
Political Party in
Israel . The Likud's roots are in
Zeev Jabotinsky 's
Revisionist Zionist movement which became the
Herut party and was the main opposition to the
Labour Zionist Mapai party. After a split which saw the formation of the new
Centrist Kadima party by a number of Likud and other Knesset Members, Likud was routed in the
2006 Knesset Election .
The Likud claims to support
Free Market Capitalism , though in practice it has mostly adopted
Moderate economic policies, with
Neoconservative tendencies. The Likud, under the guidance of
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , pushed through legislation reducing the
VAT , income and corporate taxes significantly, as well as the
Customs Duty . Likewise, it has instituted free-trade (especially with the
EU and the
U.S. ) and dismantled certain monopolies (
Bezeq and the sea ports). Additionally, it has managed to privatize numerous government owned companies (
El Al and
Bank Leumi ). The last Likud Finance minister, now the party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, was the most ardent free-market Israeli Finance minister to-date, argues that Israel's largest
Labor Union , the
Histadrut , has so much power as to be capable of paralyzing the Israeli economy. He also claims that the main causes of
Unemployment are laziness and excessive benefits to the unemployed. Under Netanyahu, Likud are likely to maintain a right-wing neo-conservative economic stance.
Likud has in the past led the hawkish policies towards the Palestinians and (until the election of Sharon in 2001) opposed
Palestinian statehood, and supported the settlers in the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip . At the height of terror attacks by Palestinian militants in 2002, Israel's Likud-led government reoccupied Palestinian towns and refugee camps and Israel continues to control those in the West Bank today. In 2005 Ariel Sharon, elected Prime Minister as head of the Likud, carried out the unilateral evacuation of the Gaza Strip, including the demolition of Israeli settlements there and in part of the West Bank. While a majority of the Likud's parliamentarians tacitly opposed this policy, dissapproving approving a coalition government with the Labor Party, a substantial minority , including most of Sharon's cabinet , supported this policy vociferously. These MP's have now left Likud and joined the new Kadima party founded by former Likud
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon . This new party supports unilateral disengagement from most of the West Bank and the fixing of borders by the separation barrier. Disengagement will ultimately mean allowing the creation a Palestinian state although smaller than most Palestinians are likely to accept. Binyamin
Netanyahu the new
Rightist leader of Likud,
Uzi Landau and
Limor Livnat are strongly opposed to
Palestinian statehood and further unilateral evacuations. Most current Likud members support the
Israeli Settlements in the West Bank and oppose Palestinian statehood and disengagement from Gaza. Likud now opposes the new Israeli political consensus and finds itself on the political fringe.
]]
The Likud promotes a revival of
Jewish -oriented culture, in keeping with the principles of
Revisionist Zionism .
The Likud emphasize such nationalist themes as the flag and the heroism that won
Israel 's
1948 war with seven
Arab states. The Likud advocates teaching values in childhood education. The Likud endorses press freedom and promotion of private-sector media, which has grown markedly under governments Likud has led. A Likud government headed by Ariel Sharon, however, closed the popular right-wing Arutz 7 ("Channel 7), which frequently criticized the government, because it lacked a proper broadcasting license. During Sharon's tenure the national broadcasting authority, modelled on the BBC, was subject to unprecedented political intervention.
The Likud was formed by the joining together of ''
La'am '' (made up of the Free Center,
State List and the "Movement for Greater Israel") and ''
Gahal (Gush Herut Liberalim)'' in preparation for the
1973 elections. The Likud worked as a coalition of its factions led by
Menachem Begin 's Herut until
1988 when the factions formally dissolved and Likud became a unitary political party. From its establishment in 1973, Likud enjoyed great support from blue-collar
Sephardim who felt discriminated against by the ruling ''Mapai'' (
Labour ) party.
The first Likud
Prime Minister was
Menachem Begin (elected
1977 ). A former leader of the hard-line paramilitary
Irgun , he helped initiate the peace process with
Egypt , which resulted in the
Camp David Accords and the
1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty .
The second premier was
Yitzhak Shamir , who first became PM in October
1983 following
Begin 's resignation. The third was
Benjamin Netanyahu , elected in May
1996 . The fourth was
Ariel Sharon , elected March
2001 , who resigned from both the Likud and as Prime Minister on 21st
November 2005 . Sharon served as defense minister during
Operation Peace For The Galilee (
1982 ). His entire tenure was marked by the
Al-Aqsa Intifada .
In
1998 a number of right wing members of Likud, including
Benny Begin , son of the former Prime Minister, quit the party denouncing it as having become too moderate for having agreed to the
Wye River Accords . They formed a
New Herut Party .
In
2001 , following the
Terrorist attacks of the
Al-Aqsa Intifada ,
Ehud Barak lost the elections to Likud leader
Ariel Sharon . At the
2003 elections the Likud doubled its power, rising to 40 mandates (out of 120) and securing power jobs in the government, ministries, public institutes and state bureaucracy.
Ariel Sharon 's perceived shift to the political centre, especially in his execution of the
Disengagement Plan , alienated him from many Likud supporters and effectively fragmented the party. He faced several serious challenges to his authority shortly before his departure. The first was in
March 2005 , when he and
Netanyahu proposed a budget plan which met fierce opposition, though it was eventually approved. The second was in
September 2005 , when Sharon's critics in Likud forced a vote on a proposal for an early leadership election, which was defeated by 52% to 48%. In October, Sharon's opponents within the Likud Knesset faction joined with the opposition to prevent the appointment of two of his associates to the Cabinet, demonstrating that Sharon had effectively lost control of the Knesset and that the 2006 budget was unlikely to pass.
The next month, ,
Uzi Landau ,
Shaul Mofaz ,
Yisrael Katz ,
Silvan Shalom and
Moshe Feiglin . Landau and Mofaz later withdrew, the former in favour of Netanyahu and the latter to join Kadima.
Netanyahu went on to win the Likud Party Chairman elections in December, obtaining 44.4% of the vote. Shalom came in a second with 33%, leading Netanyahu to guarantee him second place on the party's list of Knesset candidates. Shalom's perceived moderation on social and foreign-policy issues were considered to be an electoral asset. Observors noted that voter turnout in the elections was particularly low in comparison with past primaries, with less than 40 percent of the 128,000 party members casting ballots.
1 There was some media focus on far-right candidate
Moshe Feiglin achieving 12.4% of votes
2
The founding of Kadima is a major challenge to the Likud's generation-long status as one of Israel's two major parties. Sharon's perceived centrist policies have drawn considerable popular support as reflected by public opinion polls. The Likud is now led by figures who oppose further unilateral evacuations, and its standing in the polls has suffered. After the founding of Kadima, Likud came to be seen as more of an extremist or far-right party than a moderate centre-right one.
In the
2006 Election , the Likud vote collapsed in the face of the split with Kadima and Netanyahu's highly unpopular neoliberal policies, resulting in stronger challenges from other right-wing nationalist parties. Likud shared with the religious
Shas the third and fourth places in the popular vote, behind
Kadima and
Labour ; it lost 28 seats and was able to secure only 12 seats, its lowest point since
Gahal was created 41 years ago. Netanyahu called the result "a heavy blow", but expressed his desire to continue to lead the Likud until "better days" would come.
Likud members elected to the Knesset on
March 28 2006 :
#
Binyamin Netanyahu
#
Silvan Shalom
#
Moshe Kahlon
#
Gilad Erdan
#
Gideon Sa'ar
#
Michael Eitan
#
Reuven Rivlin
#
Dan Naveh
#
Yuval Shteinitz
#
Limor Livnat
#
Natan Sharansky
#
Yisrael Katz
Active:
Past figures (deceased, retired or left Likud):
See also:
List Of Likud Knesset Members
