The Jewish National Front (Hebrew: חֲזִית יְהוּדִית לְאוּמִּית, Hazit Yehudit LeUmit), commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym, Hayil (Hebrew: חי"ל), was a religious far-right[1]political party in Israel.
History
The party was founded in January 2004 by Baruch Marzel. The party ran in the 2006 elections to the Knesset on a joint list with Professor Paul Eidelberg's Yamin Yisrael party, but received less than the 2% minimum number of votes required to pass the threshold to receive representation.
Marzel was a senior activist for Kach, the most right-wing stream of religious nationalism in Israel, though Marzel was number two on Kleiner's Herut list for the 2003 Knesset elections.
In 2008, prior to the elections for the 18th Knesset, the party merged with Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, which, in turn, joined with the larger National Union party. Jewish National Front representative Michael Ben-Ari was given the fourth spot on the list, and subsequently won a seat in the 18th Knesset in 2009. This marks the first time the Jewish National Front enjoyed Knesset representation.
Position
The party called for a change in the country's electoral system so that Knesset members represent constituencies, rather than being elected on a party list system, as well as switching to a presidential system of government.[2]
It also supported preserving Israel as a Jewish state by increasing Jewish immigration, limiting immigration of people who are not Jews according to Halakha, and strengthening Jewish education in public schools,[2] and was against territorial compromise, citing the stance of Rabbi Chaim Zimmerman, who wrote a halakhic discourse entitled "The Prohibition of Abandoning Land in Eretz Yisrael".[2]
