Otzma Yehudit

Otzma Yehudit is a religious Zionist party in Israel, founded on November 13, 2012 by former Members of Knesset (Israel's parliament) Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, with the former being a secular Jew and the latter an Orthodox Jew.

Overview

Many people, including followers of the party itself of being "far-right" and "anti-Arab". 
  Critics and certain Zionists say that the Otzma Yehudit is a successor to the Kach party banned in Israel, one of whose famous followers was American-Israeli Baruch Goldstein, who committed the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs shooting, where 30 (including Goldstein) were killed and 125 wounded.* 

  The current leader of the Otzma Yehudit is Itamar Ben-Gvir, who served as the Minister of National Security of Israel. 




Ideology

The Otzma Yehudit puts some of these ideas into policy:

 Israeli Jewish children shall be taught to love Israel
 Jews shall settle in every region of the Land of Israel
 Compromises shall not be made with the enemies of Israel
 Israeli Jewish children shall be educated on Jewish history, heritage and tradition
 The national defence policy shall be moved from the defensive to the offensive to crush the enemies of Israel
 Diaspora Jews shall be encouraged to immigrate to Israel (aliyah, Hebrew: עלייה) to keep the Jewish majority of Israel's population

Election results

ElectionLeaderVotes%Seats+/–Status2013Aryeh Eldad64,7821.76 22015Michael Ben-AriPart of the Yachad–April 2019Michael Ben-AriPart of the Union of Right-Wing Parties (URWP)–September 2019Itamar Ben-Gvir83,6091.88–2020Itamar Ben-Gvir19,4020.42–2021Itamar Ben-GvirPart of the Religious Zionist Party (RZP) 12022Itamar Ben-GvirPart of the Religious Zionist Party (RZP) 5

Leaders

 Leader Took office Left office  70px Aryeh Eldad 2012 2013  70px Michael Ben-Ari 2013 2019  70px Itamar Ben-Gvir 2019 Incumbent

Controversies

Michael Ben-Ari once called left-wing NGOs "traitors that must be oppressed at any cost [...] internal bacteria [...] enemies of Israel".

Itamar Ben-Gvir is accused of hanging a picture of Baruch Goldstein in his living room, and disrespecting the victims of the Cave of the Patriarchs shooting. Ben-Gvir rejected the accusations:

In a consultation with Israel's President Isaac Herzog, Ben-Gvir rejected accusations of racism:

On March 23, 2025, Ben-Gvir said in his capacity as Israel's national security minister that Hamas' food reserves and power supply should be bombed due to their failure to release all surviving hostages. He added that there should be no negotiations with Islamist terrorists.

Related pages

 Likud
 New Right
 Revisionist Zionism
 State of Judea
 United Torah Judaism

Footnotes

References

Category:Controversies
Category:History of Israel
Category:Politics of Israel
Category:Political parties in Asia
Category:Kahanist political parties
Category:Kahanism
Category:Zionism