Israel’s Religious Zionist Party is set to kick off its Anglo Campaign today (Thursday, March 10) in the English-speaking community, in which it’s hoping to inspire tens of thousands of new immigrant voters to come out to the polls and vote this month.
A spokesperson for the party says many English speakers may have in the past ideologically identified with its goals and objectives, but because of lack of name recognition, a misunderstanding of the election system, or simply a plain language barrier, may have placed their vote for other parties in the ballot box. This campaign is aimed at changing that picture.
The Anglo Campaign was kicked off in an English-language nationwide Zoom Event with Knesset Member Betzalel Smotrich and Simcha Rothman, who talked about the party’s mission in the Knesset and how they intend to address the different issues that Anglos are facing.
Smotrich is known for his dedication to Israelis of all denominations, answering WhatsApp messages in the middle of the night during his tenure as transportation Minister; he is also recognized by those on the other side of the political spectrum for having passed more laws than any other Knesset member from 2015- 2019.
One important law passed by MK Betzalel Smotrich includes the oversight of donations to not-for-profit organizations to curb influence of left wing donors who may not have Israel’s best interests in mind, requiring public service members declare their financial ties before entering a new position, and legalizing Israel’s settlements.
Rothman is known as the attorney who fought against the Supreme Court’s abuse of power. He is the founder of Meshilut: the Movement for Governability and Democracy. Under his leadership, Meshilut has done much to strengthen the Jewish and democratic character of Israeli laws and judicial rulings.
In the last year Rothman published a bestselling book called “The Ruling Party of Bagatz”, where he described the harmful, undemocratic power imbalance between the Supreme Court and the Knesset. Also in 2019, he was recognized by The Marker Magazine, the highly regarded financial publication of Haaretz, as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Israel.
Simcha Rothman is very familiar with the Anglo community as his wife’s parents made Aliyah from Skokie, Illinois. Anglo olim are also among his closest relatives here in Israel while he also has family members who have not yet made Aliyah, residing in the United States, Canada, and Australia. His own English language skills are fluent as he completed his LLM degree in Public Law in the joint program shared by Northwestern University in Chicago and Tel Aviv University.
Rothman is fourth on the party’s list and is intended to be the representative in the Knesset for all Anglo issues.
The party’s grassroots campaign is set to include community-wide zooms, booths at dozens of locations in different Anglo hubs where explanations about the party can be heard, plus the distribution of English-language flyers and banners.
Party officials say the main goal is to assure the Anglo community that the Religious Zionist party will be there for them to help with any Israeli bureaucracy, financial, education or other issues that Anglos deal with on a daily basis.
The party is calling for Anglos to vote ט on Tuesday, March 23rd.