Everyone wants the Religious Zionist vote

• Author: David Rubin
• Published date: 11 March 2021
• Date: 11 March 2021
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

The images of Prime Minister Netanyahu (Likud) visiting the pioneering Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and planting trees are legendary, as are the periodic public statements supporting Jewish growth in Judea and Samaria, recently repeated by MK Meir Porush (UTJ). The problem is that we hear the praise, and we receive the visits, mainly during election campaigns. Can these words of praise be trusted?

Netanyahu, as a master campaigner, has always viewed the Religious Zionist public as a prime target for votes, even if his policies in action usually don't reflect his rhetoric. In every election, he has succeeded in cutting substantially into the votes of the flagship national-religious parties that don't just express, but also advocate for the values of this Torah-true community.

Similarly, Porush of the UTJ has learned from the Likud master well, and in this election campaign, Porush is now taking the low road, blasting MK Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party for supporting National Service for girls, and proclaiming, "How dare they market such a party to the haredi public?" In other words, it's okay for a non-Zionist or even anti-Zionist party to appeal to the national-religious public for votes, but when the Religious Zionism party, which sees the value of a year of national service to the people of Israel, appeals to haredim for votes, that is suddenly chutzpah!

Smotrich, to his credit, has been mainly focused on the positive. After all, he has consistently been recognized as an extraordinarily serious parliamentarian by most politicians across the political spectrum, many of whom don't share his consistently right-wing policy positions. Likewise, his former colleagues in the Yamina party have received similar praise for their professional dedication to serving the public, but unfortunately, they have toned down their public passion in this campaign for the traditional Religious Zionist positions.

After a couple of months of speaking only about Corona and the economy, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, in an obvious last-ditch appeal for votes from his former base, is now speaking more about the usual right-wing positions, since his main rival, who he hopes to surpass, Gideon Saar of the...