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Almost from the beginning of the Zionist enterprise that was born at the end of the 19th century, some of its most vociferous opponents were Jews. While much of the Jewish opposition to Zionism came from secularized communities in western Europe and North America, a significant proportion was also from a segment of the Orthodox Jewish constituency. Agudat Israel was the foremost anti-Zionist expression to emanate from Orthodox Judaism. These Jews believed that political Zionism was a heretical travesty. They believed that Israel could only be reestablished by the intervention of the Messiah. In the view of Agudat Israel, the state of Israel is different from other countries. It is a sacred polity that cannot be dominated by the same sort of political process that has been applied everywhere else. Agudat Israel also has an affiliated American arm, Agudath Israel of America.

Agudat Israel horrified the overwhelming proportion of Jews living in Palestine during the 1920s. They were particularly put off by Agudat Israel's hostility to Zionism, which was then so intense that it included collaboration with opponents of Zionism in both the Palestinian population and the British mandate authority. Agudat Israel agents even lobbied the League of Nations to blunt the implementation of the Balfour Declaration, a British government document published in 1917 that called for the creation of a Jewish homeland. Anti-Jewish riots at the Western Wall in 1929 persuaded Agudat Israel to moderate its stance. The rioters did not distinguish between pro- and anti-Zionist Jews. By 1931, Agudat Israel had ceased its opposition to the Zionist movement and gradually established cordial relations with it.

During the life of the Israeli state since 1948, Agudat Israel has been politically active. It is one of several religiously orthodox parties that have inconsistently cooperated with conservative or labor governments. Ironically, while Agudat Israel continued to adhere to an anti-Zionist posture, it became very opposed to any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. It has also attempted to work with other religious parties to bring greater spirituality to Jewish life in Israel. Agudat Israel has been in the forefront of activities to pressure the government to enforce dietary laws and ban the sale of pork products; apply censorship to literature and films it thinks are pornographic; and, above all, to determine "who is a Jew." The latter issue has been particularly vexing since many Israeli citizens have mixed parentage, particularly within the Russian immigrant community. Like most religious authorities, Agudat Israel holds that no child can be safely Jewish unless its mother is Jewish.

Agudat Israel's religious motivations have not been discouraging to certain segments of nonreligious voters. Israeli Jews on the lower socioeconomic rungs recently have voted for Agudat Israel in significant numbers. Like other religious parties in Israel, Agudat Israel has become a vehicle for voters who feel they have been neglected by the political mainstream.

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