Yisrael BaAliyah
|
Yisrael BaAliyah
ישראל בעליה |
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Natan Sharansky Yuli Edelstein |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Dissolved | 2003 |
| Merged into | Likud |
| Political position | Right-wing to centre-right |
| Most MKs | 7 (1996) |
| Fewest MKs | 2 (2003) |
| Election symbol | |
| כן | |
Yisrael BaAliyah (Hebrew: ישראל בעלייה, Исраэль ба-Алия; lit. Israel on the up) was a political party in Israel between its formation in 1996 and its merger into Likud in 2003. It was formed to represent the interests of Russian immigrants by former refusenik Natan Sharansky. Initially a centrist party, it drifted to the right towards the end of its existence.
The party was formed in 1996 by Sharansky, whose personal image as a dedicated and long-suffering idealist was intended to be the catalyst for an immigrant revolution in Israeli politics. "Yisrael BaAliyah" was chosen as the name for the party, both denoting its identification with immigration (aliyah being the Hebrew word for immigration to Israel), as well as the literal meaning of "Israel on the up".
With another ex-Soviet dissident Yuli-Yoel Edelstein as a cofounder, they chose a slogan stating that their political party is different: its leaders first go to prison and only then go into politics.
In its first electoral test, the May 1996 Knesset elections, the party won 5.7% of the vote and 7 seats, making it the sixth largest party in the Knesset. It joined Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud-led government, and was given two ministerial posts; Sharansky was appointed Minister of Industry and Trade, whilst Edelstein became Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
On 23 February 1999, Shortly before the 1999 Knesset elections, Michael Nudelman and Yuri Stern left the party to form Aliyah, which later entered into an alliance with another Russian-immigrant party, Yisrael Beiteinu.
...
Wikipedia