Where did religious Zionism go?

There were only three knitted-kippa wearers among the cabinet ministers who were sworn in on Tuesday. Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman is not a Knesset member; he was appointed based on his character and skills, not as a party representative. Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein is from Likud. Only Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi) represents a religious party.

Many people are asking, what happened to religious Zionism? After all, even the Central Bureau of Statistics estimates that 10 to 12 percent of the population belongs to the national-religious camp, which also has a high voter turnout. Had this community voted for Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union, they would have won about 15 Knesset seats and a proper place at the cabinet table.

The day after the election, when it was clear that Meretz had crashed and burned, there was a media frenzy. Commentators treated Meretz as if it were a ruling party exiled to the opposition. Habayit Hayehudi - the successor to the National Religious Party, which also had dropped to three seats - was mentioned in the news only as a footnote.

The reason for this is obvious: Meretz's over-representation among the media. In addition to the journalists' lack of ideological, social and emotional connections to the national religious movement, there is another reason for the alienation: The religious Zionist camp, despite its poor showing in the election, is enjoying a period of expansion and activity, while the Meretz camp is fading away.

The public, which has woken up from the illusions of the Oslo Accords, the Gaza disengagement and "two states for two peoples," is terrified of continuing the disproportionate influence of Meretz and its ilk on Israel's dealings with the Palestinians. As a result of their social connections and their ideological agreement with the heads of the media and the justice system, the leaders of this camp are also perceived as responsible for the "etrog syndrome" - when a right-wing politician in trouble cozies up to the left and reviles the religious right, and is rewarded by being redeemed and protected. This syndrome in itself is responsible for damaging the justice and media establishments.

In contrast, national-religious youth are making their mark - qualitatively, quantitatively and actively - on nearly every significant deed in the country, leading a movement of optimism and of personal example for society as a whole, despite malicious mudslinging.

Jealous figures warn the religious are taking over the army. Dr. Motti Golani told Army Radio that jihad motivates national-religious youth just as it does Hamas. Others note the dominant presence of religious Zionism in the new settlement movement in the Galilee and the Negev, which they say will "inevitably" lead to friction with the Arabs and Bedouin. The first whisperings of resentment can also be heard in other centers of hegemony - academia and the justice system. There too, particularly in junior positions, members of the religious community have begun to take their rightful place.

Anyone who can rise above this pettiness and evaluate these changes without jealousy or prejudice will find that this generation of upright youth is the product of a deep grounding in values, at home, in schools and in the community - and not of a conspiracy to take over the country's centers of power. The results of this education, whose goal is the welfare of the state, not any narrow sector, explain why the majority of knitted-kippa wearers did not vote for the religious parties. In addition, the state, despite the fact that more than a few exclusionary pockets still remain - in the media, for example - is much more egalitarian than it was in the past.

The result: Many religious nationalists, like voters on the left, voted strategically. Some voted in order to block Benjamin Netanyahu, others to block Tzipi Livni. That is why the Likud has nearly the same number of national-religious MKs as National Union and Habayit Hayehudi together.