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United Religious Front חזית דתית מאוחדת‎
Founded	1949
Dissolved	1951 (nationally)
Ideology	Ultra-Orthodox interest
Alliance of	Agudat Yisrael, Hapoel HaMizrachi, Mizrachi, Poalei Agudat Yisrael and the Union of Religious Independents
Most MKs	16 (1949–1951)
Fewest MKs	16 (1949–1951)
Election symbol
ב‎ בגד‎ (1978 Tel Aviv council election) שגב‎ (1989 Tel Aviv council election)
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

The United Religious Front (Hebrew: חֲזִית דָּתִית מְאוּחֶדֶת, Hazit Datit Meuhedet) was a political alliance of the four major religious parties in Israel, as well as the Union of Religious Independents, formed to contest the 1949 elections.

History

The idea of a united religious front had been discussed a decade prior between Agudat Yisrael and Mizrachi, although both attempts in 1938 and 1939 were aborted. The formal URF was formed as an alliance of all four major religious parties (Mizrachi, Hapoel HaMizrachi, Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael), the former two being Zionist and the latter two being non-Zionist and also viewed as more religiously conservative. One of the demands by the more stringently religious factions before agreeing to form the URF was the exclusion of women from party lists because "the woman's place is in the home." It also included the Union of Religious Independents.

The alliance contested the 1949 election, the first after independence, in which it won 16 seats, making it the third largest in the Knesset. The initial allocation of seats between the parties saw Hapoel HaMizrachi take seven seats, Mizrachi take four, Poalei Agudat Yisrael three and Agudat Yisrael two. The alliance joined David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party in forming the coalition of the first government of Israel, alongside the Progressive Party, Sephardim and Oriental Communities and the Democratic List of Nazareth. There was initially tension concerning matters over separation of religion and state, but the URF decided to initially compromise in order to join the cabinet, in hopes of being "able to fight, through the political institutions of the Jewish State, for the full domination of traditional law in all of Israel, as a maximum objective."

However, the grouping created problems in the governing coalition due to its differing attitudes. Among the many Holocaust survivors emigrating to the new state were some people who had non-Jewish spouses, mothers, children or other family members. Initially, Haim-Moshe Shapira of the URF, who was Minister of Immigration in the cabinet, attempted to declare that non-Jews must first convert before settling. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion objected and insisted that "If the family goes to the Land of Israel, they will be in a Jewish environment, and the children will be Jewish children, and I don't care if the father or mother is in origin of a different race." Ben-Gurion was backed by other ministers such as Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit. Nonetheless, following compromise between the two camps, the Knesset passed a relatively ambiguous aliyah law on 5 July 1950 which satisfied the religious side of the dispute.

On 13 June 1950, the URF abstained from the 50–30 Knesset vote to indefinitely postpone the adoption of a constitution, due in great part to the fact that the ultra-Orthodox factions condemned the idea of a constitution that was not based on the Torah and Talmud. The URF had differing attitudes towards education in the new immigrant camps and the religious education system. It also demanded that Ben-Gurion close the Rationing and Supply Ministry and appoint a businessman as Minister for Trade and Industry. As a result, Ben-Gurion resigned on 15 October 1950. After the differences were resolved, Ben Gurion formed the second government on 1 November 1950, with the United Religious Front retaining their place in the coalition.

In 1951, MP Rabbi Mordechai Nurock of the URF proposed what would later become Holocaust Remembrance Day.

After elections were called for the second Knesset in 1951, the grouping disbanded into its individual parties that fought the election separately. Attempts to form a religious coalition in ensuing years was complicated by disunity and disputation. In 1952, Agudat Yisrael left the coalition government following a dispute over conscription of religious females to the Israel Defense Forces, with the other three parties of the former URF remaining in the fourth Ben-Gurion cabinet.

However, the United Religious Front was retained at the local level, and contested the local elections in Tel Aviv as late as 2003.

Composition

Knesset members

References

1. "רשומות ילקוט הפרסומים" (PDF). www.nevo.co.il. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
2. "רשומות ילקוט הפרסומים" (PDF). www.nevo.co.il. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
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4. Don-Yehiya, Eliezer (1984). "Religious Leaders in the Political Arena: The Case of Israel". Middle Eastern Studies. 20 (2): 154–171. doi:10.1080/00263208408700578. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4282994.
5. ^ Rowley, Charles K.; Taylor, Jennis (2006). "The Israel and Palestine Land Settlement Problem, 1948-2005: An Analytical History". Public Choice. 128 (1/2): 85. doi:10.1007/s11127-006-9045-9. ISSN 0048-5829. JSTOR 30026634. S2CID 143910569.
6. ^ Weitz, Yechiam; Weitz, Yehiam (2005). "The Road to the "Upheaval": A Capsule History of the Herut Movement, 1948-1977". Israel Studies. 10 (3): 54–86. doi:10.2979/ISR.2005.10.3.54. ISSN 1084-9513. JSTOR 30245767.
7. ^ Johnston, Scott D. (1962). "Election Politics and Social Change in Israel". Middle East Journal. 16 (3): 309–327. ISSN 0026-3141. JSTOR 4323495.
8. Weiss, Shevach; Yishai, Yael (1980). "Women's Representation in Israeli Political Elites". Jewish Social Studies. 42 (2): 172. ISSN 0021-6704. JSTOR 4467082.
9. Oren, Stephen (1973). "Continuity and Change in Israel's Religious Parties". Middle East Journal. 27 (1): 37. ISSN 0026-3141. JSTOR 4325020.
10. Peretz, Don (1960). "Reflections on Israel's Fourth Parliamentary Elections". Middle East Journal. 14 (1): 28. ISSN 0026-3141. JSTOR 4323198.
11. Baker, Dwight L. (1965). "Israel and Religious Liberty". Journal of Church and State. 7 (3): 406. doi:10.1093/jcs/7.3.403. ISSN 0021-969X. JSTOR 23913703.
12. Waxman, Chaim I. (2013). "Multiculturalism, Conversion, and the Future of Israel as a Modern State". Israel Studies Review. 28 (1): 37–38. doi:10.3167/isr.2013.280104. ISSN 2159-0370. JSTOR 43771843.
13. Kraines, Oscar (1957). "Review of Israel's Emerging Constitution 1948-1951". Jewish Social Studies. 19 (1/2): 77. ISSN 0021-6704. JSTOR 4465526.
14. Baumel, Judith Tydor (1997). "Bridging Myth and Reality: The Absorption of She'erit Hapletah in Eretz Yisrael, 1945-48". Middle Eastern Studies. 33 (2): 381–382. doi:10.1080/00263209708701157. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4283872.
15. Adlerstein, Yitzchok; Angel, Marc D.; Berger, David; Blau, Rivkah Teitz; Bleich, Judith; Breuer, Mordechai; Buchwald, Ephraim; Bulka, Reuven P.; Cohen, Alfred; Feldman, Ilan; Geller, Victor (1998). "[Responses]". Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. 32 (4): 42. ISSN 0041-0608. JSTOR 23261690.
16. Rustow, Dankwart A. (1985). "Elections and Legitimacy in the Middle East". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 482: 143–144. doi:10.1177/0002716285482001008. ISSN 0002-7162. JSTOR 1046386. S2CID 145281269.
17. Rubin, Aviad (2013). "Integration of Religion in Democratizing Societies: Lessons from the Israeli Experience". Shofar. 31 (2): 41. ISSN 0882-8539. JSTOR 10.5703/shofar.31.2.31.

External links

• Party history Knesset website

• Defunct political party alliances in Israel
• Orthodox Jewish political parties
• Political parties established in 1949
• 1949 establishments in Israel
• 1951 disestablishments in Israel
• Political parties disestablished in 1951