Right Bloc

Right Bloc (lit. "Right/Rightwards") ימינה
name	Modern Hebrew
Leader	Yitzchok Katz
Co-Deputy Chairman	Moshe Lippman
Co-Deputy Chairman	David Touro
Founded	August 25, 1975 (1975-08-25)
Headquarters	Yerushalayim, Yisrael
Ideology	Conservatism Torah Judaism Stronger monarchy Dati-interests Internal Factions: National conservatism Ordoliberalism Right-wing populism Welfare capitalism
Political position	Right (Center-right-to-Far-right)
Religion	Dati sector of Orthodox Judaism
Colors	Royal blue
Slogan	"Right Leadership. Right Policy. Right Direction."
Seats in the Royal Knesset	80 / 142

The Right Bloc, sometimes referred to as Yamina, is a political alliance of the leading Yisraeli right-wing parties - the right-wing Royalist Conservative Party, the socially conservative Torah Achdus party, and the far right League for New Judea. The Right Bloc, along with the Left Bloc, have existed in one form or another since late 1975 in advance of the 1976 general election in the aftermath of the Yarden Accords.

With the most recent 2020 general elections, Yamina was down one party - the center-right Action Yisrael - that was apart of its political bloc in the 2012 elections and has switched to cross-endorse the center/center-left Con-Lib-splinter party the Alternative for Yisrael. However, it gained the Torah Achdus party rejoining its ranks after an absence during the 48th session of the Knesset as well as retaining the Northern League. The Right Bloc expanded its majority in Knesset and retained control of the presidency.

History

1970s

Main articles: Yarden Accords, Yarden revisionist movements, and New Right (Yisrael)

1976 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 1976

1980s

1980 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 1980

1984 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 1984

1988 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 1988

1990s

1992 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 1992

1996 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 1996

2000s

2000 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 2000

2004 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 2004

2008 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 2008

2010s

2012 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 2012

2016 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 2016

2020s

2020 general election

Main article: Yisraeli general election, 2020

The Right Bloc had one of its best showings in history, retaining the presidency for a third-term - the only time since the 1980s - as well as expanding to its largest majority in Knesset since the Binyamin Schwartz era.

Campaign

On September 4th, 2019, Yitzchok Katz was formally nominated as the Conservative Party presidential nominee, also inheriting the leadership of the Right Bloc alliance. For the Left Bloc, the Constitutional Liberals' Yosef Kaduri likewise was nominated by his party to be its 2020 nominee and lead the parallel Left Bloc apparatus.

Between September and November, the campaign was underway, with Katz steadily leading Kaduri, but usually only by single digits. However, on November 7th, Reuven Goldschmidt announced a split-off center-left party called the Alternative for Yisrael, and he took nine other former Con-Lib MKs with him as he defected. With robust polling among centrist suburbanites and urban voters, Goldschmidt was joined by the center-right Action Yisrael, which - increasingly uncomfortable with the neoconservative turn at the end of the Feldman era and under Katz's electoral banner - broke off from the Right Bloc and joined the fledgling AfY in an United Center Bloc.

By mid-December 2019, Goldschmidt surpassed Kaduri in the polling as Katz's direct competitor, and the metropolitan suburbs in the Western, Eastern, Yerushalayim, and Central Districts became furious political battlegrounds.

Around Chanukkah Break through mid-January, Katz and Goldschmidt were neck-and-neck with Kaduri falling distantly behind. However, the death of King Yaakov II paused electioneering mere days out and upon his crowning, King Hezekiah III gave an on-air implicit endorsement of the Conservatives. On Election Night, Katz received over 44% of the vote in a three-way split and earned a decisive 109 Electoral Vote majority in the Electoral College.

Organization

Rules and practices

Since its founding, the Yamina has been led by the Royalist Conservative Party, which is written into its bylaws as the "leading party of the right." During presidential years where there is an open seat, the Conservative presidential nominee becomes leader of the bloc upon his nomination. In years where there is an incumbent president, the incumbent serves as bloc leader. In midterm years when the President is not on the ballot, the leader of the Conservatives' Knesset caucus becomes the bloc leader.

The party leaders or chosen alternatives/representatives of other right-of-center parties that join the bloc become the co-deputy leaders.

While all the parties are responsible for their own fundraising, since the 1990s, the Conservatives have created joint fundraising committees to help raise and distribute funds to their coalition partners.

Continuity

Since the mid-1980s, the Conservatives and their contemporary allies maintain a coordinated standing committee in-between elections, in addition to any other liaising or mutual contacts they maintain between their Knesset caucuses and party organizations. This committee, usually called the "Right Bloc Election Committee," is often a coveted group to join, and ambitious members of third-party parties often seek to join it to broaden their appeal throughout the right-wing political world.

Right Bloc Election Committee fund-raises perpetually, including off-years when it organizes funds, staffers, advertising, election training, and other assistance to Right Bloc member-parties in District, local, and special elections.

Election results and current representation

Current representation

The political alliance is led by President and Royalist Conservative Party leader Yitzchok Katz, who serves as the bloc's chairman, and the co-deputy chairmen are the Torah Achdus leader Moshe Lippman and Northern League leader (and Interior Minister) David Touro. The Bloc has an executive board consisting of all the members of each party's executive councils.

Election results

Knesset

Since 2004

Royal Knesset
Election	Leader	Seats won	+/−	Rank	Majority	Parties In Bloc
2020	Binyamin Goldschmidt	85 / 142	9	#1	Majority	Conservatives Torah Achdus1 Northern League1
2018	Binyamin Goldschmidt	76 / 142	1	#1	Majority	Conservatives Action Yisrael Northern League2
2016		75 / 142	16	#1	Majority	Conservatives Northern League3
2014		58 / 142	22	#2	Minority	Conservatives Torah Achdus4 Northern League4
2012		80 / 142	6	#1	Majority	Conservatives Torah Achdus5
2010		74 / 142	9	#1	Majority	Conservatives Torah Achdus
2008		65 / 142	6	#2	Minority	Conservatives Torah Achdus6
2006		71 / 142	11	Tie	Minority	Conservatives Torah Achdus
2004		60 / 142	TBD	#2	Minority	Conservatives Torah Achdus6 National Union7

Notes
1. Action Yisrael left the Right Bloc for the newly formed United Center Bloc in the advance of the 2020 elections. Torah Achdus rejoined the Bloc and finally made a level of peace with the League.
2. Torah Achdus left the Bloc for the midterm elections due to then-public spats with personalities in the Action Yisrael and Northern League parties. After the election, the TA entered into a supply and confidence agreement with the bloc.
3. While the Action Yisrael and Torah Achdus parties cross-endorsed the Conservatives on the presidential level, they chose to run their own candidates and not enter an election pact for Knesset and other offices.
4. Torah Achdus and the Northern League put aside their simmering feud and policy differences and agreed to stay under one tent with the Conservatives, while Action Yisrael declined to join their list and consequently joined the short-lived one-term Con-Lib majority in the 46th Knesset.
5. The Northern League and Action Yisrael, although they cross-endorsed the Conservatives on the presidential level, declined to join the Right Bloc list at the Knesset and lower level.
6. The Torah Achdus party, although they did not cross-endorse the Conservatives on the presidential level, did to join the Right Bloc list at the Knesset level.
7. The National Union party merged with the Conservatives before the 2006 elections.

See also

• Politics of Yisrael
• United Center Bloc
• Left Bloc
• Electoral College in Yisrael
• Yisraeli general election, 2020
• Party divisions of the Yisraeli Knesset