This article is about the political party.
For the concept of a Jewish homeland, see
Homeland for the Jewish people
The Jewish Home is a religious Zionist political
party in Israel formed as the successor party
to the National Religious Party.
It was originally formed by a merger of the
National Religious Party, Moledet and Tkuma
in November 2008.
However, after its top representative was
placed 17th on the new party's list, Moledet
broke away from the party, and instead ran
on a joint list with Hatikva called the National
Union.
Tkuma also rejoined the National Union whereas
the Ahi faction have joined Likud.
For the 19th Knesset Elections, The Jewish
Home and Tkuma parties merged their lists
under the leadership of the chairman of The
Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett; Uri Bank and
his Moledet party supported the merger.
The other National Union members formed the
Otzma LeYisrael party.
The party has ministers in the cabinet of
Israel.
History
The National Religious Party and the National
Union originally allied in order to run a
joint list for the 2006 elections.
On 3 November 2008 it was announced that the
NRP and the Moledet and Tkuma factions of
the Union would merge to form a new party.
However, the Ahi and Hatikva factions of the
Union rejected the merger – their leaders,
Effi Eitam and Aryeh Eldad respectively, were
both opposed to the party being a religious
one, while Eitam was also unhappy that the
new party would not hold primaries.
The party was initially nameless.
Five names were proposed: HaBayit HaYehudi,
Shorashim, Atzma'ut, Shalem, and Amihai.
In an on-line ballot, the members chose "Jewish
Home".
Ya'akov Amidror was chosen to head a public
committee formed to choose the party's list
for the 2009 elections.
On 8 December 2008 Rabbi Professor Daniel
Hershkovitz, a mathematician from the Technion,
was chosen to head the new party.
When Jewish Home announced its candidate list
for the upcoming elections, five of the top
six slots went to ex-NRP members.
MK Uri Ariel of Tkuma was the sole exception:
he received the third slot.
Polls then indicated Jewish Home would get
five to seven seats, thus making the first
six spaces highly contested.
The ex-National Union members again complained.
Ex-Moledet MK Benny Elon stated that he would
not seek reelection and was replaced on the
candidate list by American immigrant Uri Bank.
The remaining Moledet members broke away and
allied with Hatikva in a revived Union
On 25 December Tkuma MK Ariel left Jewish
Home and joined the Union.
This left Jewish Home as little more than
a renamed NRP: The Jewish Home, the new National
Religious Party.
In the 2009 election, Jewish Home won three
seats.
In November 2012 the Jewish Home held separate
primaries for leadership of the party.
My Israel leader Naftali Bennett won over
incumbent MK Zevulun Orlev, winning more than
two thirds of the vote and Orlev announced
he was resigning from politics.
A week later, primaries for the remaining
members of the list were held, and Nissan
Slomiansky, Ayelet Shaked, and Uri Orbach
reached the top spots.
With the National Union breaking up, Uri Ariel
officially reunited Tkuma with the Jewish
Home to run on a joint list in the 2013 Israeli
elections.
A few Moledet candidates were included.
In the elections that were held on 22 January
2013 the Jewish Home won 12 seats.
The Jewish Home entered the thirty-third government
of Israel under prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and has 3 ministers and 2 deputy-ministers.
As part of its 2013 coalition agreement, the
Jewish Home has the right to veto any laws
that change the fragile status quo on religious
issues.
In December 2013, the party vetoed a Yesh
Atid–proposed bill that sought to give gay
fathers equal tax benefits, saying it far-reaching
implications on marriage laws.
Currently, mothers receive more benefits than
do fathers under the law, and thus couples
composed of two men are ineligible for certain
tax breaks.
Ideology
As the descendant of the National Religious
Party, the Jewish Home is willing to cooperate
with secular Israelis in governing the state,
but it has not forgone its objective of creating
a polity governed by Jewish law.
The party's members adhere to the belief that
Jews are divinely commanded to retain control
over the Land of Israel.
Many members have taken the lead in establishing
Israeli settlements, making it nearly impossible
for the party to join a coalition led by the
center-left political bloc.
The party primarily represents Modern Orthodox
Jews, who tend to be more nationalist in Israel.
For many years, this community has been politically
fractured and weak.
During 2013 elections, the party's leader
appealed to both religious and secular Israelis.
The party's pro-settlement message and the
appeal of party leader Naftali Bennett, a
charismatic, high-tech millionaire, helped
it increase popularity among a broader segment
of the population.
The attention that Bennett received also apparently
had an effect on Likud's 2013 election strategy,
pushing it to the right.
Along with Yesh Atid, the Jewish Home surged
in popularity by promising to end the controversial
system of draft exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox
seminary students, and to "ease the burden"
on middle class Israelis who serve in the
military, work and pay taxes.
These two parties became two largest coalition
parties in Prime Minister Netanyahu's government,
and leaders of both parties were able to force
Netanyahu to promise that the ultra-Orthodox
political parties will not be in the new coalition.
Despite Bennett's alliance with Yesh Atid
leader Yair Lapid on many domestic issues,
the two differ sharply over peace efforts
and settlement building.
Bennett is opposed to concessions to the Palestinians
and has called for Israel to annex Area C
of West Bank.
Knesset members
References
External links
Official website
Party platform
