The Chayil Party is the Right Wing Israeli political party founded by Baruch Marzel. "Chayil" means Valor in Hebrew and in the party name, it is a Hebrew acrynom for the "Jewish National Front". The party was founded in January, 2004. Itamar Ben-Gvir is the party spokesman. The party intends to run in the next elections for Knesset. In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Baruch Marzel. ... // Itamar Ben Gvir (born 1977) is a leader of the spokesman for The Chayil Party, a right-wing Jewish party in Israel. ... The Knesset (כנסת, Hebrew for assembly) is the Parliament of Israel. ...

Background

Chayil is virtually indistinguishable from other ultra-right parties that have come and gone from Israeli politics since 1981.The first of those factions was Geula Cohen's Tehiya ("Renaissance"), followed by Rehavam Zeevi's Moledet ("Fatherland"), Meir Kahane's Kach ("Thus"), Rafael Eitan's Tzomet ("Junction"), on to Benny Begin and Michael Kleiner's Herut ("Freedom") that was in the Knesset until 2003. Because Marzel and Ben-Gvir were both senior activists for Kach, the party is very closely identified with Kahanism, the most extreme organized stream of nationalism in Israel, though Marzel was also a key ally of Kleiner in the failed Herut bid for the 2003 Knesset Rehavam Zeevi Rehavam (Gandhi) Zeevi â–¶(?) (רחבעם זאבי-גנדי)(June 20, 1926 - October 17, 2001) was an Israeli general, politician and historian who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party. ... Moledet (Hebrew מולדת, literally homeland) is a small right-wing political party in Israel. ... Rabbi Meir Kahane Meir David Kahane (Hebrew: מאיר דוד כהנא, Kahane being a variation on Cohen or priest; also known by the pseudonym Michael King) (August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990), was an American Orthodox rabbi, author, political activist, and eventually a member of the Israeli Knesset. ... Kach was an extremist right-wing Israeli party led by Meir Kahane. ... Rafael Eitan (January 11, 1929 – November 23, 2004) was an Israeli general, former chief of staff of the Israeli Defence Forces and later a politician and a Knesset member. ... Tzomet or Tsomet (Hebrew: צומת, meaning crossroads) is a secular, right-wing Israeli political party. ... This article is about the Zionist movement known as Herut. ...

Position

Chayil calls for a state that is more Jewish in practice than strictly in ceremony, including emplacement of Torah laws in place of the current civil ones after the Jewish majority is increased west of the Jordan River. This will be acheived through motivating mass Jewish immigration to Israel as well as encouraging emmigration of Arabs (Israeli and Palestinian) through various incentives. While the Chayil Party openly calls for the expulsion of Israel's enemies (terrorists, as well as terrorism sympathizers and Jew-haters who call for the destruction of Israel) from the state, it does not advocate the forcible expulsion of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Marzel's activities as a member of Kach in the past decades have earned him the "street credit" that is needed to unite the extreme right behind his movement.

Few doubt the seriousness of his intention to carry out the platform. Chayil, in the tradition of its predecessor Kach, is different from Tehiya, Moledet and Tzomet or even Herut in that it places its platform in a context of religious obligation, whereas the others are secular parties built around military figures or pre-independence ideologues like Vladimir Jabotinsky. Zeev Jabotinsky in military uniform Zeev Vladimir (Evgenevich) Jabotinsky (or Zhabotinski) (October 18, 1880 - August 4, 1940) was a Zionist leader, author, orator, and founder of the Jewish Legion in World War I. During World War II a similar and larger unit known as the Jewish Brigade would follow. ...

When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon enacted the Gaza Withdrawal of September 2005, Marzel placed his group into high gear by holding sensational protests full of polemic about Sharon's intension to forcibly remove Jews from their homes.

2006 elections

As the Gaza Withdrawal succeeded in the end, however, the Chayil activists woke up to a new reality present with the possiblility of both success and disintegration. Disintegration, because the failed opposition to the Withdrawal was feared to be an indicator of disinterest by the vast majority of Israelis, or even worse of a shift to the left among them. Though massive numbers of Israelis participated in the campaign, the extreme measures undertaken by many protestors often led to disgust in the media and confrontations with the law and frustrated civilians.

The possibility of a growth in Chayil's power, however, is based around the current trends occurring among the three rightist parties currently in the Knesset. The National Religious Party ("Mafdal") has undertaken an effort at outreach towards the poor and a focus on socio-economic issues instead of the expansion of Jewish settlements or opposition to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority which they place as second priorities. Mafdal, which sat in Ariel Sharon's government until just prior to the Disengagement Law was passed and consequently disenchanted many of its traditional supporters, is negotiating with the National Union alliance to form a joint list to run in the Knesset, and they are expected to do well if this is implemented. The third party, Yisrael Beiteinu, is remaining concentrated on its traditional voter base, immigrants from the USSR with rightist views, and has no reason to abandon that strategy as it gives them two more seats in the Knesset. It should be noted that even after Sharon announced his plans to withdraw from the entire Gaza Strip and Nortern Samaria, the Mafdal and National Union parties (including Moledet, Tekuma, and Yisrael Beiteinu) did not immediately resign on the pretense of being able to oppose this policy from within the government. Mafdal party logo This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... It has been suggested that National Union Party be merged into this article or section. ... Yisrael Beytenu ( Hebrew: Israel Our Home) is a right-wing political party in Israel with support from Jewish Russian immigrants to Israel who came from the lands of the former Soviet Union. ...

All of these developments have strenghthened and increased the hard core of right-wing stalwarts. They are particularly opposed to the Mafdal's calls for conciliation and unity, and their refusal to condemn the army's cooperation with Sharon during the Withdrawal. They are disappointed with the failure of the National Union, as well Yisrael Beiteinu's leader, Avigdor Lieberman, who headed the National Union, for supporting trading Israeli-Arab land in return for permanently legitimizing Israeli settlement-blocs. (Chayil opposes any Jewish withdrawal from land west of the Jordan River.) Several loosely related grassroots organizations, including Chayil, attempted to create a current of disobedience among soldiers to their officers to not execute orders related to the Withdrawal that was deemed highly immoral and a war crime. Arie Eldad, a non-religious Member of Knesset (National Union), was the most prominent politician to advocate civil disobedience and perhaps the only one. Avigdor Liberman was born in 1958 in Moldova, and emigrated to Israel in 1978. ... Prof. ...

Tactics

The success of the Withdrawal has spawned the slogan: "We won't forget, we won't forgive" and Chayil is using it as well. The main tactic of that grassroots campaign is intimidation against all of the politicians who voted in favour of the Withdrawal, ostracising them from social gatherings of religious Zionism, as well as legal action against them. The most prominent targets of the actions are Sharon, his cabinet ministers, Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, and perhaps most effectively Withdrawal Administration director Yonatan Basi, himself a member of a religious kibbutz. With Sharon leaving the Likud Party, it is also considered possible that Mafdal, the National Union, and Yisrael Beiteinu will unite with the Likud. Such a development could push even more voters to the edge, especially if Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz or Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, both Withdrawal supporters, succeed in being elected to high rankings in the Likud. General Dan Halutz   Dan Halutz? (Hebrew: דן חלוץ) (born 1948 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli General and former Israeli Air Force commander. ... Likud party logo Likud or ליכוד literally means consolidation. ... Israeli Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz Shaul Mofaz (b. ... Silvan Shalom Silvan Shalom â–¶(?) (Hebrew סילבן שלום) (born 1958) is an Israeli politician and current Foreign Minister of Israel, having been appointed in 2003 by the current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. ...

The target demographic for Chayil are religious, pro-settlement Israelis who feel that the moderates on the Israeli right failed them in the last term when they failed to stop the Withdrawal, or even struggle strongly enough. They will feed off disillusionment toward such figures as Mafdal chairman Zevulun Orlev, former Finance Minister and Likud chairman candidate Benjamin Netanyahu, and the rest of the heads of the "respectable" right. They draw a great deal of support from young and military-age Israelis who feel that their government is forcing them to fight the very people they were sent to protect rather than terror, as was the message in the anti-Withdrawal campaign. In the 2003 elections Herut fell short of the threshhold to enter the Knesset, but was the second closest party to that mark. Even with a raised threshold to enter the Knesset in the next elections, Chayil should be expected to challenge for representation. Zevulun Orlev זבולון אורלב is an Israeli politician. ... Benjamin Netanyahu â–¶(?) (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין נְתַנְיָהוּ (without niqqudot: בנימין נתניהו), transliteration: Binyamin Netanyahu, nicknamed Bibi) (born October 21, 1949, Tel Aviv) was the 9th Prime Minister of Israel. ...

Party Website:Chayil National Jewish Front