The Israeli political scene has always had "religious political parties." These parties were originally established to protect religious institutions. Some are the political wing of long-time, pre-state organizations that had established religious institutions, and there is Shas , which began later on and now has its own schools.
For all of these schools and yeshivot to survive, they need lots of financial support from the government. That's why for vertually the entire existence of the State of Israel, "mizrachi" or what's today called Mafdal--NRP has been loyal coalition partners. Only very recently has it found itself in the opposition. To put it simply,it discovered that it couldn't protect its institutions and its voters had principles and ideology. It lost their votes when holding onto useless cabinet portfolios. Finally, it joined with National Union, Ha'Ichud Le'umi which had many former members, who left it because its lack of loyalty to to the Land of Israel.
Even though the NRP joined with the , there are still religious parties willing to swallow any coalition agreement, as long they're in. Shas and Agudat Yisrael are seriously negotiaing with Olmert, who has been very clear about his intentions to advance the ethnic cleansing of Judea and Samaria and transfer law-abiding Jews into defensless ghettos.
Need I say more?
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