Otzma Yehudit

Otzma Yehudit
עוצמה יהודית‬
Leader Aryeh Eldad
Michael Ben-Ari
Baruch Marzel
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Zvi Sukkot
Chairman Michael Ben-Ari
Spokesperson Michael Ben-Ari
Founded 13 November 2012
Merger of Jewish National Front
Hatikva
Split from National Union
Headquarters Jerusalem
Ideology One-state solution[1]
Religious Zionism
Kahanism[2]
Anti-Arabism[3]
Ultranationalism
Political position Far-right[4]
Religion Orthodox Judaism
National affiliation Yachad (2015 elections)
Slogan "There are no rights, without duties"[5]
Anthem Jingle of Otzma LeYisrael
Knesset
0 / 120
Most MKs 2 (2012)
Election symbol
נץ‬
Website
https://440.co.il

Otzma Yehudit (Hebrew: עוצמה יהודית‬, lit., Jewish Strength) is a far-right[6] political party in Israel, and it has been referred to as "Israel's alt-right".[7] It was originally formed as Otzma LeYisrael (עָצְמָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל‬, lit., Strength for Israel), or Strong Israel,[8][9] and was established on 13 November 2012 by MKs Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, who split from the National Union to form a new party ahead of the 2013 elections.[8] Otzma Yehudit is seen by some as the ideological descendant of the outlawed Kach party.[10][3][11][12] Michael Ben-Ari is the party's spokesman and chairman.[13] The parties executive director is Zvi Sukkot.[14][15]

The party ran in the 2013 election under the name Otzma LeYisrael but failed to pass the minimum 2% voting threshold by 9,000 votes and did not receive any seats in the 19th Knesset.[16] In the 2015 elections, they ran on a joint list with Yachad; however, the list narrowly failed to pass the 3.25% threshold.[17]

Background

Eldad was first elected to the Knesset on the National Union list in 2003.[18] In November 2007, Eldad formed a new secular far-right party named Hatikva.[19] Ultimately, Hatikva ran as a faction of the National Union in the 2009 elections, and Eldad retained his seat.[20] Ben-Ari ran for Knesset unsuccessfully in the 2003 elections with the Herut – The National Movement party, and in the 2006 elections with the Jewish National Front party; both times, the parties failed to pass the threshold. Leading up to the 2009 elections, the Jewish National Front, headed by a long-time Kach party activist Baruch Marzel, allied with Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, a new party founded by Chabad Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo. The joint list ran as part of the National Union, with Michael Ben-Ari, its representative, taking the fourth spot on the alliance's list. The National Union won four seats, allowing Ben-Ari to enter the Knesset.[21]

Eldad, a secular hard-liner, and Ben-Ari, an Orthodox Jew and ex-Kahanist,[22] decided to form the new faction ahead of the 2013 elections, after they were unable to come to an agreement with the National Union, which was expected to be forming a joint list with the Jewish Home. Eldad was chosen to lead the party's list, followed by Ben-Ari and Marzel.[8] The party has affiliations, and shared their office with the anti-assimilation group Lehava. The office of Lehava and Otzma Yehudit was raided in 2014.[23][24][25][26] The parties anthem is the "Jingle of Otzma LeYisrael".[27][28]

Ideology

The party is considered to be Religious Zionist, Kahanist, ultra-nationalist, anti-Arab, and far-right.[29][30][3] The party calls for the annexation of the West Bank, and for complete Israeli rule between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The party is against the formation of a Palestinian state, and advocates for the cancellation of the Oslo accords, as well as for imposing Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount. The party also advocates for teaching Jewish history in all elementary schools to "deepen Jewish identity in students".[30] The party is against "freezing construction of Jewish settlements, releasing terrorists, or negotiating with the PA".[31] The party also advocates for the deportation of "Arab extremists".[31]

Election Campaigns

In November 2012, Michael Ben-Ari announced the campaign slogan for the 2013 elections: "There are no rights without duties".[3] The party failed to pass the election threshold.[32]

In 2014, police raided the offices of Otzma Yehudit, due to the offices being shared with the organization Lehava.[23][24] This was also the year that the party announced they would be participating in the 2015 election, they announced that their slogan would be "Those on the right vote Otzma Yehudit! Autonomy? Two states? There's Meretz for that. One state - Otzma Yehudit!"[33]

In 2015, the party chose to contest the 2015 Knesset election as part of a joint list with Yachad; Baruch Marzel was the only candidate from the party to run on the list.[34] There was a conflict during the negotiations between the parties due to Yachad being worried that if the parties ran on list together, and failed to pass the threshold, it would put the right-wing coalition at risk.[31] It was speculated before the election, that the joint list would win as many as 5 seats in the Knesset.[35] Though in the election, Yachad only won 125,106 votes (2.97%) votes, falling short of the 3.25% threshold needed for winning seats in the Knesset.[17] Members of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party were accused of tampering with the ballots of Yachad,[36] as well as creating a straw party with the election symbol of Otzma Yehudit to trick Yachad voters.[37]

After the elections, the party announced that they were planning on establishing an alternative media source. Michael Ben-Ari also said that the party was unsure if it planned on competing in other elections, instead hoping to focus on extra-parliamentary activism.[38]

History

2016

In 2016, Otzma Yehudit organized a march from Ara to Arara.[39][40] The march started in Ara due to it being the village which Nashat Melhem was from, who was a terrorist responsible for an attack in Tel Aviv.[41] The application for the march was originally denied; however, after an appeal to the Supreme Court, the march was allowed to go on, though they had to respect the conditions set by the police.[39] On 7 July, Otzma Yehudit petitioned Israel's High Court of Justice to nullify the rapprochement deal with Turkey. However, the high court struck down the petition on grounds of insufficient evidence to support their claims.[42]

2017

In 2017, Otzma Yehudit leaders protested Al Jazeera, in hopes to close their offices in Jerusalem.[43] On 19 July 2017, the party requested the police for a permit to organize a march in Umm al-Fahm.[44][45] On July 21, the party distributed food to security forces in Jerusalem.[46] On July 23, dozens of party members demonstrated outside of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem in the evening; the demonstrators called upon Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to resign.[47] On the evening of July 24, their party blockaded a junction just outside Nablus, preventing both the entry and exit of Palestinians.[6] On 24 September, the parties planned conference in Lod was cancelled by orders of the Lod City Hall, it was instead held in Gandhi Garden.[48][49] After it was rescheduled, the parties leader, Michael Ben-Ari, released a video calling for Arabs to leave Israel and move to Arab countries. The conference was condemned by the Coalition Against Racism in Israel.[50] On 1 November, the party put up billboards for the memorial of Meir Kahane, though the billboards were taken down after pressure from left-wing lawmakers, as well as NGOs.[12] On 4 December, in protest of an attempted lynching of a group of children by Arab stone throwers,[51] activists from the party announced that they would hike to the same cave that the kids went to.[52][53] During the protest, a "group of rioters attempted to roll a huge stone off a cliff onto the heads of Israelis", according to Hamodia.[54]

2018

On 14 January 2018, the party announced its plan to train volunteers to use drones to catch Palestinian rock throwers in the West Bank; the party's legal team would seek to prosecute the rock throwers.[55][56][57] The party created a fundraiser to purchase the drones and cameras, which was successful. On 31 January, the party succeed in recording rock throwers attacking Jewish youth who were planting trees at a Tu Bishvat festival.[58] On Apr 9, it was reported that the police withdrew their permit for them to demonstrate in Umm al-Fahm; however, under the Eldad Yaniv precedent, they would continue with their protest which was planned a year earlier[44] without police permission.[59][60] The protest occurred on April 10, with dozens of activists attending; however, the police blocked the party from entering the city, although Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that they were allowed to earlier that morning.[61] Party leaders, Michael Ben Ari, Baruch Marzel, Zvi Sukkot, and Itamar Ben Gvir were arrested en route.[62][63] The protest included leader of Lehava, Benzi Gopstein.[25] On Aug 6, the party got permission after petitioning the Supreme Court to march in Umm al-Fahm.[64][65] On Aug 9, the march occurred without incident.[66]

Controversies

In December 2012, Otzma LeYisrael ran an ad campaign on billboards and bus advertisements that included words in Arabic such as "equality" and "taxes". One of the signs was banned by the Israeli Central Elections Committee on the ground that the ad was seen as racist. The ad shows the Arabic word "loyalty" with the Hebrew caption "Because without duties, there are no rights".[67] This ban was later reversed by the Supreme Court of Israel.[68]

Aryeh King, a Ma'ale HaZeitim resident, ran as number four on the party list for the 2013 Knesset elections. Later that year, he was elected into the Jerusalem municipal council, where he became Chairman of the Environment Committee, Deputy Chairperson of the Emergency and Security Committee, and a council member on the Regional Planning and Building Committee. While holding these positions, in January 2014, he distributed thousands of flyers to the Arab residents of Jerusalem asking them to leave the Land of Israel in exchange for a negotiated amount, due to the Jewish rights to the land, as written down in the Torah and acknowledged in the Koran.[69][70]

Leaders


 Leader Took office Left office
Michael Ben-Ari 2012 Incumbent

Election results

Knesset

Election year Party Leader # of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall seats
won		 +/- Notes Gov?
2013[32][71] Michael Ben-Ari 64,782 1.76
0 / 120
 Decrease 2 First election, party leaves National Union. N/A
Ran on list with Yachad in 2015.

Knesset members

Knesset Members Notes
18th Aryeh Eldad[72], Michael Ben-Ari[21] Party breaks away from the National Union in 2012.

References

  1. ↑ Ido Ben-Porat, Ari Yashar (12 December 2014). "Nationalist Party Otzma Yehudit Officially Unveils Platform". Israel National News. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Anshel Pfeffer (22 January 2013). "10 reasons the polls could be wrong". Haaretz. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Aaron Kelman (27 January 2013). "Arab town doesn't love anti-Arab party". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Hassan Shaalan (15 January 2013). "Rightists protest 'illegal construction' in Arab village". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "На выборы идет партия Оцма ле-Исраэль". Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  6. 1 2 "Work starts on new outpost outside Halamish after deadly terror attack". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  7. ↑ "Comment: Israel's alt-right ramps up the pressure on Trump". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  8. 1 2 3 Harkov, Lahav (13 November 2012). "Eldad, Ben-Ari form new party: Strong Israel". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  9. ↑ "Otzma Yehudit". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. ↑ "Right of right: Eli Yishai's new party mired in controversy". Ynetnews. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  11. ↑ "The extremist who could bring Kahanism back to the Knesset". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  12. 1 2 "Kahane billboards removed from Jerusalem hotels". Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  13. ↑ "מיכאל בן ארי: ניפוץ אשליית הדו-קיום". ערוץ 7. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  14. ↑ "Watch: Activists remove terror-inciting ads in Judea and Samaria". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  15. ↑ "Calls to Chief of Staff: 'Bring back the checkpoints'". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  16. ↑ Gil Ronen (24 January 2013). "Otzma Leyisrael was 9,000 Votes Short". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  17. 1 2 "Over 235,000 votes thrown in trash". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  18. ↑ "Knesset Members in the Sixteenth Knesset".
  19. ↑ "Arye Eldad to head new secular Right party". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  20. ↑ "National Union - The Israel Democracy Institute". The Israel Democracy Institute.
  21. 1 2 "Knesset Member, Michael Ben Ari". knesset.gov.il.
  22. ↑ Anshel Pfeffer (2 December 2012). "On the religious right – unity and discord". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Police raid offices of anti-assimilation group Lehava". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
  24. 1 2 "Police Raid the Offices of Otzma Yehudit". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
  25. 1 2 "Otzma Yehudit Activists Hope To Reach Um el-Fahm Mosque". Yeshiva World News. 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  26. ↑ "Inside radical right-wing group Lehava". Ynetnews. 2015-03-01. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  27. ↑ "בקצב הראפ: נחשף ג'ינגל הבחירות של 'עוצמה לישראל' - סרוגים". www.srugim.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  28. ↑ "ג'ינגל לעוצמה לישראל: נאמנות בסגנון ראפ-גבעטרון - וואלה! חדשות". וואלה! חדשות (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  29. ↑ "The extremist who could bring Kahanism back to the Knesset". Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  30. 1 2 "Otzma LeYisrael". en.idi.org.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  31. 1 2 3 "Otzma Yehudit Says 'Yishai's Party Doesn't Want Us'". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  32. 1 2 "Israeli Parliament - An Analysis of the 2013 Election Results". en.idi.org.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  33. ↑ "Nationalist Party Otzma Yehudit Officially Unveils Platform". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  34. ↑ "Yishai's List Finalizes - With Marzel, But Not Ben-Ari". Arutz Sheva. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  35. ↑ "Final polls before elections give Herzog 4-point lead". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  36. ↑ "Mass voting scandal | Shas Activists Caught on Tape Guiding Voter Fraud". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  37. ↑ "Fictitious Party Meant to Harm Yachad, Rightist Coalition?". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  38. ↑ "Otzma Yehudit: 'We're Crushed but Not Despairing'". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  39. 1 2 "Marzel invites Arabs to join Otzma Yehudit protest". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
  40. ↑ "Otzma Yehudit to march in Arab town". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
  41. ↑ "Authorities name Nashat Melhem as Tel Aviv terrorist". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
  42. ↑ "High Court dismisses petitions against Turkey detente deal". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  43. ↑ "'Close the office of Al Jazeera today'". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  44. 1 2 "Otzma Yehudit requests to hold march in Umm el-Fahm - Israel National News". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  45. ↑ "Otzma Yehudit Requests A Permit To Protest In Umm el-Fahm - Yeshiva World News". Yeshiva World News. 2017-07-20. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  46. ↑ "Otzma Yehudit activists distribute food to security forces - Israel National News". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  47. ↑ "'The people expect vengeance'". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  48. ↑ "Lod City Hall Orders Cancelation Of Otzma Yehudit Party Function". Yeshiva World News. 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  49. ↑ "City of Lod versus Otzma Yehudit". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  50. ↑ "Extreme-Right to Arabs in Israel: 'We can solve all your problems'". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  51. ↑ "Bar Mitzvah hike turns into a nightmare". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  52. ↑ "Arabs stone right-wing activists in Samaria". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  53. ↑ "Settlers vow to return to Qusra after violent incident". Ynetnews. 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  54. ↑ "Arabs Again Attack Israelis in Shomron; One Rioter Said Killed". Hamodia. 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  55. ↑ "Right-wing party launches new project to catch Palestinian rioters". Ynetnews. 2018-01-14. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  56. ↑ "Drones to document Arab rock throwers?". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  57. ↑ "VIDEO: Otzma Yehudit Party Purchasing Drones To Document Arab Attacks". Yeshiva World News. 2018-01-14. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  58. ↑ "'There are no excuses, arrest the Arab rioters immediately'". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  59. ↑ ""תקדים אלדד יניב" בשירות עצמה יהודית". ערוץ 7 (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  60. ↑ "בזכות אלדד יניב; מרזל ובן גביר יפגינו באום אל פאחם - סרוגים". www.srugim.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  61. ↑ "Police block right-wing demonstrators". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  62. ↑ "Far-right activists arrested en route to unauthorized anti-mosque protest". Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  63. ↑ Birnbaum, Chelsea Mosery. "Far-right activists hang picture of Jaffa terrorist from Clock Tower". JerusalemOnline. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  64. ↑ "Police to allow Otzma Yehudit to march in Umm al-Fahm". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  65. ↑ "Rightwing group permitted to hold demonstration in Arab town". WIN. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  66. ↑ "Right wing march in Israeli-Arab city ends without incident". Israel National News. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  67. ↑ Matti Friedman (16 January 2013). "Coexistence, despite everything". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  68. ↑ Elad Benari (16 January 2013). "Supreme Court Allows Otzma LeYisrael and Balad Ads". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  69. ↑ Ari Yashar (15 January 2014). "Jerusalem Councilman Urges Muslims: 'Leave Israel'". Arutz Sheva, IsraelNationalNews.com. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  70. ↑ Ari Yashar (1 November 2013). "'United Jerusalem' Party Joins Coalition". Arutz Sheva, IsraelNationalNews.com. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  71. ↑ "Will Otzma's 64,782 Votes Affect 2017 Elections? - Israel National News". Israel National News. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  72. ↑ "Knesset Member, Arieh Eldad".
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