Summary
Tehiya, the first political party traceable to Gush Emunim, founded in 1979 by religious and nonreligious ultranationalists after the Camp David Accords, which won three Knesset seats in 1981 and five in 1984 on a joint list with Tzomet (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2850-3300).
Details
- Tehiya originated in a March 1979 meeting at Tzvi Yehuda Kook’s home attended by key religious Gush figures, prominent Herut members and leaders of the Movement for the Whole Land of Israel, focused on Begin’s “betrayal” in signing the Camp David Accords; it was neither officially endorsed by Gush Emunim nor supported by a majority of its members (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2850-3000).
- Tzvi Yehuda’s endorsement of the secular ultranationalist Yuval Neeman to head the party, and his teaching that the Land of Israel is neither religious nor secular and belongs to the whole Jewish people, overcame personal rivalries and religious differences within the founding group (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2850-3000).
- In 1981 it received 44,500 votes and placed Yuval Neeman, Geula Cohen and Hanan Porat in the Knesset; in 1984 its vote rose to 83,000 and five deputies, on a joint list with Rafael Eitan’s Tzomet whose first three places were held by secular ultranationalists (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2850-3000, lines 3150-3300).
- Its secularist emphasis prevented Haim Druckman from entering the party and drove Porat from it in 1984; it received 23 percent of votes cast in Gush settlements in 1984, against Likud’s 48 percent and Morasha’s 21 percent (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 3060-3300; Chapter 3 notes, lines 3560-3624).
- During the Elon Moreh episode Tehiya was out of the government, yet the movement associated with it exerted enormous influence on policy (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2650-2800).
Related pages
For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Gush Emunim, Yuval Ne’eman, Hanan Porat, Rafael Eitan, Camp David Accords