Religious Zionist Party

The **Religious Zionist Party (RZP)** () also known as **T'kuma** () until 2021 is a far-right, ultranationalist, and Religious Zionist party in Israel and the Palestinian territories. In all the elections since its founding in 1998, the party had joined other factions and competed as part of a united list. In 2023, the Religious Zionist Party and Jewish Home agreed to merge to become Mafdal–Religious Zionism.

## History

Tkuma was established by Rabbi Hanan Porat and Zvi Hendel in 1998. The pair left the National Religious Party in reaction to the Wye River Memorandum, signed between Ben Netanyahu, then 9th Prime Minister of Israel and Yassar Arafat, then 2nd president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Almost immediately after the creation of Tkuma, it joined together with Moledet and Herut – The National Movement, to form the National Union, a right-wing coalition which won four seats in the 1999 elections, with only one of those seats going to Tkuma. These elections were a failure for the right-wing bloc, and were won by Barak, leaving the National Union and Tkuma in the opposition. In February 2000, Yisrael Beiteinu joined the National Union, alongside Tkuma, and the two parties joined Ariel Sharon's first government in 2001. One year later, Tkuma and the rest of the National Union left Sharon's government over disagreements over the handling of the Second Intifada. For the 2003 elections, the National Union kept its alliance with Yisrael Beiteinu, with its increased support helping to win seven seats for the entire list, and two for Tkuma. The party was included in Ariel Sharon's coalition, alongside Likud, Shinui, the NRP, and Yisrael BaAliyah.

Because of tensions over the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the Northern West Bank, National Union ministers such as BenYamin Elon and Avigdor Lieberman were sacked, and the party left the coalition. However, the National Union was bolstered by the addition of Ahi, which had split off from the National Religious Party when they decided to remain in the coalition.

Before the 2006 elections, the alliance between the National Union and Yisrael Beiteinu was dissolved, and a new alliance between the National Union and the National Religious Party was formed, which won nine seats, two of which were allocated to Tkuma and taken by Hendel and Uri Ariel.

On 3 November 2008, ahead of the 2009 elections, Tkuma faced a crisis. The party itself announced that it would unite with Ahi, the National Religious Party, and Moledet, to form a new right-wing party, which was later named Bait HaYehudi. However, around half of the former Tkuma members later left the new party to re-establish Tkuma and rejoin the National Union alongside Moledet, Hatikva, and Eretz Yisrael Shelanu. In the elections themselves, the National Union got four seats, with Tkuma getting two seats.

## Ideology

The RZP opposes land concessions to the Palestinians or Syria. Despite the fact that many members of the Religious Zionist Party support Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza and prevent the establishment of a Palestine state, the official policy of HaBait HaYehudi Knesset faction, of which the party was aligned with between 2013 and 2019 only supports annexation of Area C, which makes up 63% of the Israeli-occupied West Bank per the Oslo Accords. The party advocates increased funding for Torah study institutes. Jewish-American columnist David E. Rosenberg has stated that the Religious Zionist Party's "platform includes things like annexation of Israeli settlement in the West Bank, the expulsion of asylum-seekers, and political control of the judicial system". He further described the Religious Zionist Party as a political party "driven by Jewish supremacy and anti-Arab racism". The party has been assessed by _The Middle East Journal_ as "militantly anti-Arab" and far-right.

## Leaders

||Leader|Took Office|Left Office|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Hanan Porat|1998|1999|
||Zvi Hendel|1999|2009|
||Jacob Katz|2009|2012|
||Uri Judah Ariel|2012|2019|
||Bezalel Smotrich|2019|2023|

## Knesset members list

|Knesset term|Seats|Members||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2015–2019|align="center"|2|Uri Ariel, Bezalel Smotrich|
|2019|align="center"|2|Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer|
|2019–2020|align="center"|2|Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer|
|2020–2021|align="center"|2|Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer|
|2021–2022|align="center"|5|Bezalel Smotrich, Michal Waldiger, Simcha Rothman, Orit Strook, Ofir Sofer|
|2022–2023|align="center"|7|Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer, Orit Strook, Simcha Rothman, Michal Waldiger, Ohad Tal, Moshe Solomon, Zvi Sukkot (replaced Smotrich on 5 February 2023)|

## Related pages

- Religious Zionism, an ideology that combines elements of ultra-Orthodox and Zionism
- Orthodoxy, most religious strand of Judaism
- Kach and Kahane Chai, a far-right ultra-nationalist party in Israel
- State of Palestine (declared 1988)
- State of Judea (declared 1988)
- Oslo Accords (1993, 1995)
- Palestinian National Authority (est. 1995)

## Infobox (political party)

- **name**: Religious Zionist Party
- **logo**: File:Parti sioniste religieux logo 2022.png
- **chairman**: Bezalel Smotrich
- **founders**: Hanan Porat
Zvi Hendel
- **position**: Far-right politics in Israel, Far-right
- **headquarters**: Beit HaShenhav Building, Jerusalem, Israel
- **country**: Israel
- **founded**: 1998
- **dissolution**: 2023
- **split**: National Religious Party
- **merged**: National Religious Party–Religious Zionism
- **seats1 title**: Most MKs
- **seats1**: 7 (2022)
- **symbol**:

- **national**: National Union (Israel), National Union (1999–2013)

Union of Right-Wing Parties, URWP (2019)

- **affiliation1**: Religious Zionist Party
Otzma Yehudit
Noam (political party), Noam
- **affiliation1 title**: Member parties
- **secretary general**: Ofir Sofer