My grandmother has been quite political in Jerusalem.
She has never put herself forward for office in her life but she has proven herself a valuable fundraiser and organiser for a number of parties in the Knesset.
The most recent party she has been involved with is Yisrael Beiteinu (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, lit.'Israel Our Home') which is a right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russian-speaking immigrants, although support from that demographic is in decline. The party describes itself as "a national movement with the clear vision to follow in the bold path of Ze'ev Jabotinsky", the founder of Revisionist Zionism. It has primarily represented immigrants from the former Soviet Union, although it has attempted to expand its appeal to the broader Jewish Israeli population.
It takes a hard line towards the peace process and the integration of Israeli Arabs. Its main platform includes a recognition of the two-state solution, the creation of a Palestinian state that would include an exchange of some largely Arab-inhabited parts of Israel for largely Jewish-inhabited parts of the West Bank. It encourages socio-economic opportunities for new immigrants, in conjunction with efforts to increase aliyah.
The party won 15 seats in the 2009 election, its most to date, making it the third-largest party in the 18th Knesset. In the 2020 election the party won seven seats. Despite previously having formed part of the Likud-led bloc in the Twentieth Knesset and even running on a joint slate with Likud for the Nineteenth Knesset, leader Avigdor Lieberman has more recently been vocal in his opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu.
She fell out with them, and with most of the politicians who are running the country because of their reaction to learning she is a Messianic Jewess.
The most recent party she has been involved with is Yisrael Beiteinu (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, lit.'Israel Our Home') which is a right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russian-speaking immigrants, although support from that demographic is in decline. The party describes itself as "a national movement with the clear vision to follow in the bold path of Ze'ev Jabotinsky", the founder of Revisionist Zionism. It has primarily represented immigrants from the former Soviet Union, although it has attempted to expand its appeal to the broader Jewish Israeli population.
It takes a hard line towards the peace process and the integration of Israeli Arabs. Its main platform includes a recognition of the two-state solution, the creation of a Palestinian state that would include an exchange of some largely Arab-inhabited parts of Israel for largely Jewish-inhabited parts of the West Bank. It encourages socio-economic opportunities for new immigrants, in conjunction with efforts to increase aliyah.
The party won 15 seats in the 2009 election, its most to date, making it the third-largest party in the 18th Knesset. In the 2020 election the party won seven seats. Despite previously having formed part of the Likud-led bloc in the Twentieth Knesset and even running on a joint slate with Likud for the Nineteenth Knesset, leader Avigdor Lieberman has more recently been vocal in his opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu.
She fell out with them, and with most of the politicians who are running the country because of their reaction to learning she is a Messianic Jewess.
