Likud
Founded	1973
Leader	Benjamin Netanyahu
Number of MPs at height of power	48 (1981)
Political ideology	Centre-right, Conservative liberalism, Revisionist Zionism
Headquarters	"Metzudat Ze'ev", 38 King George Street, Tel Aviv, Israel
Colour(s)	Blue
Website	www.likud.org.il
See also the Politics of Israel series

Likud (Hebrew: ליכוד‎, lit. (בִּנְיָמִין "ביבי" נְתַנְיָהוּ Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, born October 21 1949, Tel Aviv) was The centre-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals political parties or organizations (such as Think tanks whose views Conservative liberalism is a variant of Liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances or more simply representing the right-wing Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement Blue is a Colour, the Perception of which is evoked by Politics of Israel takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Israel is Consolidation) is a major center-right political party in Israel. The centre-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals political parties or organizations (such as Think tanks whose views Israel's Political system is based on Proportional representation which allows for a Multi-party system with numerous parties For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Founded in 1973 as an alliance of several right-wing and liberal parties, Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had lost power. The Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. However, after ruling the country for most of the 1980s, the party has won only one Knesset election since 1992, though its candidate, Benjamin Netanyahu, did win the popular vote for Prime Minister in 1996. Israel elects its national legislature the Knesset, by Proportional representation on a national list basis (בִּנְיָמִין "ביבי" נְתַנְיָהוּ Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, born October 21 1949, Tel Aviv) was The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and is the most powerful political officer in Israel (the President of Israel being a titular figurehead The first ever election for Prime Minister was held in Israel on 29 May 1996 alongside simultaneous Knesset elections. After a big win in the 2003 elections, a major split in 2005 saw Likud leader Ariel Sharon leave to form the new Kadima party, with Likud slumping to fourth place in elections the following year. Elections for the 16th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 January 2003. (אריאל Kadima (קדימה lit Forward) is a political party in Israel. The Elections for the 17th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 March 2006. The party now leads the opposition in the Knesset. ^[1]

Ideological positions

Economy

The Likud claims to support free market capitalism and liberalism, though in practice it has mostly adopted moderate economic policies. A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal In Politics and Religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two viewpoints neither to be extreme or radical by those applying The Likud, under the guidance of Finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pushed through legislation reducing value added tax (VAT), income and corporate taxes significantly, as well as customs duty. The finance minister is a Cabinet position in a Government. A minister of Finance (also called financial affairs the treasury the economy or economic (בִּנְיָמִין "ביבי" נְתַנְיָהוּ Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, born October 21 1949, Tel Aviv) was Value added tax ( VAT) or goods and services tax ( GST) is a consumption Tax levied on value added. See also Taxation, Indirect Tax In Economics, a duty is a kind of Tax, often associated with Customs, a payment due to the Likewise, it has instituted free-trade (especially with the European Union and the U.S.) and dismantled certain monopolies (Bezeq and the sea ports). The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Bezeq (בזק is a Telecommunications provider in Israel. Until the mid-2000s when it was owned by the Israeli government Bezeq had a monopoly on Wireline Additionally, it has managed to privatize numerous government owned companies (El Al and Bank Leumi). El Al (אל על skyward) ( TASE: ELAL is the National airline of Israel. Bank Leumi (בנק לאומי lit National Bank) is an Israeli Bank. The last Likud Finance minister, now the party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, was the most ardent free-market Israeli Finance minister to-date, argues that Israel's largest labor union, the Histadrut, has so much power as to be capable of paralyzing the Israeli economy. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming Template talkInfobox Union for usage -->The Histadrut ("Federation" labour or HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel He also claims that the main causes of unemployment are laziness and excessive benefits to the unemployed. Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work. Under Netanyahu, Likud has and is likely to maintain a comparatively right-wing conservative economic stance, although it might be considered centrist or even progressive from a world view.

Arab-related issues

The Likud charter calls for the annexation and settlement of the entire Land of Israel, which comprises the current territory of the State of Israel, as well as West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the whole of Jerusalem. For other uses see Israel (disambiguation The Land of Israel ( Hebrew: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל Eretz Yisrael) is The West Bank (الضفة الغربية, הגדה המערבית Hagadah Hamaaravit) also referred to in Israel as " Judea and Samaria The Gaza Strip (قطاع غزة, רצועת עזה Retzu'at 'Azza) is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt on the south-west Borders of Israel The Golan Heights ( الجولان al-Jawlān, הגולן ha-Golan) is a strategic Plateau and mountainous Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the

Likud has in the past espoused hawkish policies towards the Palestinians, including opposition to Palestinian statehood and support of the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. War Hawk is a term originally used to describe a member of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth Congress of the United States who advocated Palestinian people or Palestinians ( الشعب الفلسطيني, ash-sha`b al-filasTīni; الفلسطينيون, al-filasTīnīyyūn However, it has also been the party which carried out the first peace agreements with Arab states. For instance, in 1979, Likud Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, signed the Camp David Accords with Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, which returned the Sinai Peninsula (occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967) to Egypt in return for peace between the two countries. Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) (מְנַחֵם בְּגִין Mieczysław Biegun Менахем Вольфович Бегин 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992 was the sixth prime minister of the State of Israel The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء Yitzhak Shamir also granted some legitimacy to the Palestinians by meeting them at the ill-fated Madrid Conference following the Persian Gulf War in 1991. (יִצְחָק שָׁמִיר born Icchak Jaziernicki on 15 October 1915 was Prime Minister of Israel from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992 The Madrid Conference was hosted by the government of Spain and co-sponsored by the USA and the USSR Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. However, Shamir refused to concede the idea of a Palestinian state, and as a result was blamed by some (including U.S. Secretary of State James Baker) for the failure of the summit. The United States Secretary of State (commonly abbreviated as SecState) is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with Foreign affairs See also James Addison Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28 1930) is a American attorney politician political Later, as Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu restated Likud's position of opposing Palestinian statehood, which after the Oslo Accords was largely accepted by the opposition Labor Party, even though the shape of any such state was not clear. (בִּנְיָמִין "ביבי" נְתַנְיָהוּ Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, born October 21 1949, Tel Aviv) was Israeli-Palestinian conflict The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles

Following conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in 2002, Israel's Likud-led government reoccupied Arab towns and refugee camps in West Bank, a position that remains unchanged today. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. The West Bank (الضفة الغربية, הגדה המערבית Hagadah Hamaaravit) also referred to in Israel as " Judea and Samaria In 2005 Ariel Sharon defied the recent tendencies of Likud and abandoned the "Greater Israel" policy of seeking to settle the West Bank and Gaza. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. (אריאל Greater Israel (also Complete Land of Israel, ארץ ישראל השלמה Eretz Yisrael Hashlemah) is an expression with several different meanings Though re-elected Prime Minister on a platform of no unilateral withdrawals, Sharon carried out the Israeli unilateral disengagement plan, withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and demolishing the Israeli settlements there, as well as four settlements in the northern West Bank. Israel's unilateral disengagement plan ( Hebrew: תוכנית ההתנתקות Tokhnit HaHitnatkut or תוכנית ההינתקות Tokhnit HaHinatkut in The Gaza Strip (قطاع غزة, רצועת עזה Retzu'at 'Azza) is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt on the south-west Whilst an overwhelming majority of the Likud's membership opposed this policy, Sharon achieved the approval of this policy through the necessary government channels by firing all cabinet members who opposed the plan before the vote in order to assure a needed majority, and by submitting his plan to what Sharon called a "binding" vote in his party which he lost and yet later disregarded.

Ariel Sharon and the faction who supported his "Disengagement" proposals left the Likud party after the Disengagement and joined the new Kadima party which was itself founded by former Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. (אריאל Kadima (קדימה lit Forward) is a political party in Israel. The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and is the most powerful political officer in Israel (the President of Israel being a titular figurehead (אריאל This new party supports unilateral disengagement from most of the West Bank and the fixing of borders by the separation barrier. The basic premise of the policy is the view that the Israelis have no viable negotiating partner on the Palestinian side, and since they cannot remain in indefinite occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel should unilaterally withdraw. If pursued, this further Disengagement will, according to many, ultimately mean allowing the creation a Palestinian state although smaller than most Palestinians are likely to accept. It is not known why Mr. Sharon did not create this new party before he carried out the disengagement plan instead of after it.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the new rightist leader of Likud, and Silvan Shalom, the party's #2 ranking member, both supported (against the Likud charter) the disengagement plan, however Netanyahu resigned his ministerial post before the plan was executed. In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities (סילבן שלום born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister (2003-06 and Finance Minister Most current Likud members support the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and oppose Arab statehood and the disengagement from Gaza. Israeli settlements are communities inhabited by Israelis in territory that was captured as a result of Jordanian attacks during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Culture

Zeev Jabotinsky

The Likud promotes a revival of Jewish-oriented culture, in keeping with the principles of revisionist zionism. Ze'ev Jabotinsky MBE (זאב ז'בוטינסקי Зеэв Жаботинский born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky on 18 October 1880 PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Revisionist Zionism is a nationalist faction within the Zionist movement

The Likud emphasize such nationalist themes as the flag and the victory in Israel's 1948 war with neighbouring Arab states. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding The Likud advocates teaching values in childhood education. The Likud endorses press freedom and promotion of private-sector media, which has grown markedly under governments Likud has led. A Likud government headed by Ariel Sharon, however, closed the popular right-wing pirate radio station Arutz 7 ("Channel 7). The term pirate radio usually refers to illegal or unregulated radio transmissions Arutz Sheva (ערוץ שבע ( Channel Seven) is an Israeli media network identifying with Religious Zionism. Arutz 7 was popular with the settlement movement and often criticised the government from a right-wing perspective. However, the Likud is inclined towards the Torah and expresses support for it within the context of civil Judaism, as a result of its Irgun past, which aligned itself according to the word of the Tanakh. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to Irgun (ארגון shorthand for HaIrgun HaTzva'i HaLe'umi BeEretz Yisra'el, he הארגון הצבאי הלאומי בארץ ישראל "National Military Organization See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is

History

Formation and the Menachem Begin years

The Likud was formed by a merger of several right wing parties prior to the 1973 elections, including Gahal, the Free Centre, the National List and the Movement for Greater Israel. The Elections for the eighth Knesset were held on 31 December 1973. Gahal (גח"ל an acronym for Gush Herut-Libralim (Hebrew גוש חרות-ליברלים lit The Free Centre (מרכז חופשי Merkaz Hofshi) was a political party in Israel, and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Likud. The National List (רשימה ממלכתית Reshima Mamlakhtit) sometimes translated as the State List, was a political party in Israel. The Likud worked as a coalition of its factions led by Menachem Begin's Herut until 1988 when the factions formally dissolved and Likud became a unitary political party. (מְנַחֵם בְּגִין Mieczysław Biegun Менахем Вольфович Бегин 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992 was the sixth prime minister of the State of Israel This article is about the political party For other uses see Herut (disambiguation. From its establishment in 1973, Likud enjoyed great support from blue-collar Sephardim who felt discriminated against by the ruling Alignment. Sephardi Jews ( Hebrew: ספרדי, Standard Səfardi Tiberian Səp̄arədî; plural The Alignment (המערך HaMa'arakh) was an alliance of the major left-wing parties in Israel between the 1960s and 1990s

The first Likud prime minister was Menachem Begin, who had led the party to victory in the 1977 elections, the first time the left-wing had lost power in Israel's political history. The Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. A former leader of the hard-line paramilitary Irgun, Begin helped initiate the peace process with Egypt, which resulted in the Camp David Accords and the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Irgun (ארגון shorthand for HaIrgun HaTzva'i HaLe'umi BeEretz Yisra'el, he הארגון הצבאי הלאומי בארץ ישראל "National Military Organization This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17,

Yitzhak Shamir, Netanyahu's first term and Ariel Sharon

The second premier was Yitzhak Shamir, who first became PM in October 1983 following Begin's resignation. (יִצְחָק שָׁמִיר born Icchak Jaziernicki on 15 October 1915 was Prime Minister of Israel from 1983 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1992 Shamir, a former commander of the Lehi underground, served as a strong Israeli leader seen as more hard-line than Begin. Under his leadership, the Jews of Russia and Ethiopia were brought on aliyah to Israel and settlements flourished throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Aliyah ( refers to Jewish Immigration to the Land of Israel (and since its establishment in 1948 the State of Israel) The West Bank (الضفة الغربية, הגדה המערבית Hagadah Hamaaravit) also referred to in Israel as " Judea and Samaria The Gaza Strip (قطاع غزة, רצועת עזה Retzu'at 'Azza) is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt on the south-west

The third Likud premier was Benjamin Netanyahu, elected in May 1996, following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. (בִּנְיָמִין "ביבי" נְתַנְיָהוּ Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, born October 21 1949, Tel Aviv) was Netanyahu proved far less ideological than Begin and could not stand up to United States' pressure as firmly as Shamir had. Though critical of the Oslo accords and more hawkish than Rabin and Peres' Labour governments, like his rivals in the Labor party, Netanyahu negotiated with Yasser Arafat. Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini ( Arabic: محمد عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني (August 24 1929 – November 11

The fourth Likud premier was Ariel Sharon, elected March 2001, who resigned from both the Likud and as Prime Minister on 21 November 2005. Sharon served as defense minister during Operation Peace for the Galilee (1982), and was found by the Kahan Commission to be personally responsible for the Sabra and Shatila Massacre (16 September-18 September, 1982). The 1982 Lebanon War (מלחמת לבנון Milhemet Levanon) (الإجتياح Al-Ijtīāḥ, "the invasion" called by Israel the Operation Peace The Kahan Commission (ועדת כהן formally known as the Commission of Inquiry into the Events at the Refugee Camps in Beirut, was established by the Israeli government This page is related to the 1982 events only For the 1985&ndash1987 events see War of the camps. Sharon was forced to resign as defense minister after the Kahan Commission issued its report, but he was allowed to remain in Begin's cabinet.

In 1998, after Benjamin Netanyahu ceded territory to the Palestinians in the Wye accords, several MKs split off from the Likud in an act of protest. The State of Israel (מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael) was established in 1948 after nearly two thousand Led by Benny Begin (Menachem Begin's son), Michael Kleiner and David Re'em, a new party named Herut – The National Movement was formed, gaining support from former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (who had expressed harsh disappointment in Netanyahu's leadership). Ze'ev Binyamin "Benny" Begin, PhD (זאב בנימין "בני" בגין born 1 March 1943) is a former Israeli politician and Michael Kleiner (born April 4 1948 in Munich, Germany) is an Israeli politician and leader of Herut – The National Movement Herut – The National Movement (חרות – התנועה הלאומית Herut – HaTenoa'a HaLeumit) commonly known as just Herut, is a minor right-wing

In 2001, following Palestinian attacks during the al-Aqsa Intifada, Ehud Barak lost the elections to Likud leader Ariel Sharon. Ehud Barak (אֵהוּד בָּרָק born Ehud Brog on 12 February 1942) is an Israeli politician former Prime Minister, and At the 2003 elections the Likud doubled its power, rising to 40 mandates (out of 120) and securing power jobs in the government, ministries, public institutes and state bureaucracy.

Sharon's entire tenure was marked by the Al-Aqsa Intifada and he ventured further away from the Likud's traditional values and association with the settler movement. In the summer of 2005, Sharon uprooted thousands of Jewish settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in order to withdraw from the territory.

Kadima split

Ariel Sharon's perceived leftward shift to the political center, especially in his execution of the Disengagement Plan, alienated him from some Likud supporters and fragmented the party. Israel's unilateral disengagement plan ( Hebrew: תוכנית ההתנתקות Tokhnit HaHitnatkut or תוכנית ההינתקות Tokhnit HaHinatkut in He faced several serious challenges to his authority shortly before his departure. The first was in March 2005, when he and Netanyahu proposed a budget plan which met fierce opposition, though it was eventually approved. The second was in September 2005, when Sharon's critics in Likud forced a vote on a proposal for an early leadership election, which was defeated by 52% to 48%. In October, Sharon's opponents within the Likud Knesset faction joined with the opposition to prevent the appointment of two of his associates to the Cabinet, demonstrating that Sharon had effectively lost control of the Knesset and that the 2006 budget was unlikely to pass.

The next month, Labor announced its withdrawal from Sharon's governing coalition following its election of the left wing Amir Peretz as leader. Amir Peretz (עמיר פרץ عمير بيريتز born 9 March, 1952) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset. On 21 November 2005, Sharon announced he would be leaving Likud and forming a new centrist party, Kadima, and that elections would take place in early 2006. Kadima (קדימה lit Forward) is a political party in Israel. As of 21 November seven candidates had declared themselves as contenders to replace Sharon as leader: Netanyahu, Uzi Landau, Shaul Mofaz, Yisrael Katz, Silvan Shalom and Moshe Feiglin. Uzi Landau (עוזי לנדאו born 2 August 1943) is an Israeli politician and former minister and member of the Knesset. (שאול מופז born November 4, 1948 in Tehran, Iran) is the current Israeli Minister of Transportation and a Deputy (סילבן שלום born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister (2003-06 and Finance Minister Moshe Feiglin (born 1962 is an Israeli right-wing politician In 1993 he co-founded Zo Artzeinu ("This our Land/Country" movement with Shmuel Sackett Landau and Mofaz later withdrew, the former in favour of Netanyahu and the latter to join Kadima.

Under Netanyahu again

Netanyahu went on to win the Likud Party Chairman elections in December, obtaining 44. 4% of the vote. Shalom came in a second with 33%, leading Netanyahu to guarantee him second place on the party's list of Knesset candidates. Shalom's perceived moderation on social and foreign-policy issues were considered to be an electoral asset. Observers noted that voter turnout in the elections was particularly low in comparison with past primaries, with less than 40 percent of the 128,000 party members casting ballots. There was much media focus on "far-right" candidate Moshe Feiglin achieving 12. Moshe Feiglin (born 1962 is an Israeli right-wing politician In 1993 he co-founded Zo Artzeinu ("This our Land/Country" movement with Shmuel Sackett 4% of votes, who is the only candidate who aims to see Likud actually pursue the policies presented in its own official charter.

The founding of Kadima was a major challenge to the Likud's generation-long status as one of Israel's two major parties. Sharon's perceived centrist policies have drawn considerable popular support as reflected by public opinion polls. The Likud is now led by figures who oppose further unilateral evacuations, and its standing in the polls has suffered. After the founding of Kadima, Likud came to be seen as having more of a right-wing tendency than a moderate centre-right one. However there exist several parties in the knesset which are more right wing than the post-Ariel Sharon Likud.

A truck canvassing for Likud in Jerusalem in advance of the 2006 election

Prior to the 2006 elections the party's Central Committee relinquished control of selecting the Knesset list to the 'rank and file' members at Netanyahu's behest. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the The Elections for the 17th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 March 2006. The Elections for the 17th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 March 2006. ^[2] The aim was to improve the party's reputation, as the central committee had gained a reputation for corruption. ^[3]

In the elections, the Likud vote collapsed in the face of the Kadima split. Other right-wing nationalist parties such as Yisrael Beiteinu gained votes, with Likud coming only fourth place in the popular vote, edging out Yisrael Beiteinu by only 116 votes. Yisrael Beiteinu (ישראל ביתנו lit Israel is Our Home) is a Right-wing Political party in Israel. With only twelve seats, Likud is currently tied with the Shas for the status of third-largest party. Shas (ש״ס is a political party in Israel, primarily representing Haredi Sephardi and Mizrahi Judaism.

Likud is currently Israel's main opposition party with Benjamin Netanyahu Israel's Opposition Leader.

Leaders

• Menachem Begin 1973-1982
• Yitzhak Shamir 1983-1992
• Benjamin Netanyahu 1993-1999
• Ariel Sharon 1999-2005
• Benjamin Netanyahu 2005-present

Current MKs

Other prominent members

Active:

• Moshe Feiglin (leader of the Manhigut Yehudit faction)
• David Levy

Past figures (deceased, retired or left Likud):

• Menachem Begin (1913 - 1992) ; former Prime Minister
• Benny Begin
• Geula Cohen
• Moshe Katsav; former President of Israel
• Michael Kleiner
• Uzi Landau
• Tzipi Livni; current Foreign Minister
• Shaul Mofaz; former Chief of the Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces and current Minister of Transportation
• Ehud Olmert ; former Mayor of Jerusalem and current Prime Minister of Israel
• Moshe Shamir (1921 - 2004) ; author, playwright
• Yitzhak Shamir ; former Prime Minister of Israel
• Natan Sharansky; former Russian dissident
• Ariel Sharon ; former Prime Minister and Likud party leader (September 1999 - November 2005)
• Ezer Weizman (1924-2005) ; former President of Israel

See also

• List of Likud Knesset Members

References

External links

• Official website (Hebrew)
• Likud Nederland (Dutch) (English)
• Party history Knesset website