---
category: Foreign Government
location: Tel Aviv, Israel
start: 1973
summary: The Likud Party is Israel's major right-wing nationalist political party
  whose surprise May 1977 victory ended twenty-nine years of Labor dominance and brought
  to power a government under Menachem Begin even more committed to the Samson Option
  nuclear deterrent.
tags:
- Organization
- Political Party
- Israel
---

The Likud Party is a major right-wing political party in [Israel](/places/israel/). Its surprising victory in the May 1977 national elections ended twenty-nine years of [Mapai](/organizations/mapai-party/) and [Labor Party](/organizations/labor-party/) domination of the political process in [Israel](/places/israel/). This brought to power a government that was even more committed than Labor to the [Samson Option](/concepts/samson-option/) and the necessity of an Israeli nuclear arsenal. The Likud Party, led by [Menachem Begin](/people/menachem-begin/), represented a populist-nationalist view of a greater [Israel](/places/israel/) with a right to permanent control of the [West Bank](/places/west-bank/).[^1]

In 1984, neither [Labor](/organizations/labor-party/) nor Likud achieved a majority in the national elections. A national unity coalition was negotiated, with [Shimon Peres](/people/shimon-peres/) and [Yitzhak Shamir](/people/yitzhak-shamir/) sharing power: Peres would serve as prime minister and Shamir as foreign minister until September 1986, when they would trade jobs. The slush fund from arms sales financed the [Likud Party](/organizations/likud-party/) and "black" operations.[^2]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 19.
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 21.