The Masorti Judaism Party – how to

The Masorti Judaism Party “Ha-Miflaga Shel Yahadut Masortit”

Israeli society revolves around its political parties, and this has been its traditional structure from the beginning. Any group of people who is not involved in the political process through a party will have little or no ability to:

  1. Promulgate ideas and positions in general
  2. Acquire standing and “legitimacy” in the eyes of the public
  3. Have guaranteed access to public funds
  4. Be able to influence public policy

Therefore, despite the difficulties and potential spiritual dangers that accrue to being part of a political system, we believe that the Masorti Movement has no choice but to found a political party and become engaged in the central area of Israeli society’s civilization.  As witness to bolster this assertion we point to the cases of Shas and now of the Pensioner’s party.

Below is a translation of the relevant sections of the law of political parties (1992):

A Political Party (PP) is defined as “a group of people who have banded together in order to promote, in a legal fashion, political or social goals, and to do that by gaining representation in the Knesset through the electoral process. The law’s purpose is to fix the norms and procedures for the creation and activities of PP in Israel., with the central goal being to shape the democratic way of life of the State….

100 people or more who are citizens of the State of Israel and residents in the State are entitled to found a PP by registering it in the PP registry.

A request to register a PP will be presented by it’s founders to the registrar. This request will specify:

The proposed name of the PP

It’s goals and its address ….

It will also specify the name [etc.]… of all of it’s founding members…

Accompanying the request will be the articles [constitution] of the PP.

A notice of the request will be publicized within 14 days of it’s presentation… No PP will be allowed to register if any of its goals or its actions includes, overtly or covertly, any of the following:

  1. Denial of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
  2. Incitement to racism.

2a. support of an armed struggle of an enemy state or of a terrorist organization against the State of Israel

  1. A presumptive basis for the conclusion that the PP will serve as a coverup for illegal activities.

Objections to registry:

Any adult Israeli citizen, who is a resident of the State, may object to the registry of any PP.

The objection will be presented in writing, together with arguments supporting the objection within 30 days of the publicizing…

The registrar will decide to accept the objections or to reject them, this decision may be appealed in the Supreme Court, within 30 days of its being accepted. If the registrar refuses to register a PP, this will be brought to the Supreme Court within 30 days. If the registrar does not refuse to register a PP, or his refusal is rejected by the Supreme Court, the PP will be registered in the PP registry.

…. The fees for presenting a PP for registry are 1,870 NIS for registry fee, and 73, 000 NIS for publicizing the registry.