Tkuma (political party)

Tkuma, officially known as National Union–Tkuma (Hebrew: האיחוד הלאומי-תקומה‎, HaIchud HaLeumi–Tkuma), is an Orthodox Jewish, religious Zionist, far-right political party in Israel.

National Union-Tkuma

האיחוד הלאומי–תקומה‎
ChairmanBezalel Smotrich
Secretary-GeneralOfir Sofer
Founded1998
Split fromNational Religious Party
IdeologyReligious Zionism
Religious conservatism
Social conservatism[1]
Ultranationalism[2]
Economic liberalism
Right-wing populism
Political positionFar-right[3]
ReligionOrthodox Judaism (Chardal)[4]
National affiliationNational Union (1999–2013)
The Jewish Home (2013–2019)
URWP (2019)[5]
Yamina (2019, 2020–)[6][7]
Seats in Knesset
2 / 120
Most MKs5 (2013)
Election symbol
ט‎
Website
www.ichudleumi.org.il

Background

Tkuma was established by Hanan Porat and Zvi Hendel in 1998. The pair left the National Religious Party in reaction to the Wye Memorandum[8] Almost immediately after the creation of Tkuma, it joined together with Moledet and Herut – The National Movement, to form the National Union, a big tent of religious and secular far right parties in Israel 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 Ehud Barak, leaving the National Union and Tkuma in the opposition.[9] 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 National Religious Party and Yisrael BaAliyah.[10]

Because of tensions over the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (Tkuma was ideologically opposed, and Hendel lived in the Gaza settlement of Ganei Tal), National Union ministers Binyamin 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.[11]

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.[12]

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,[13] which was later named the Jewish Home. 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.[14] In the elections themselves, the National Union got four seats, with Tkuma getting two seats.

Ahead of the 2013 elections, the National Union split, with all member parties except for Tkuma splitting off to form Otzma LeYisrael, leaving Tkuma as the only party left in the National Union. Tkuma proceeded to change its name to "National Union–Tkuma". The party opted to run as part of the Jewish Home list for the 2013 elections. The joint list won 12 seats, four of which (Ariel, Ben-Dahan, Kalfa, and Strook) were nominated by the Tkuma central committee. The party decided to continue its alliance with the Jewish Home for the 2015 Knesset elections,[15] taking the 2nd, 8th, 13th, and 17th spots on the joint list.[16] The Jewish Home dropped to eight seats in that election.[17]

In 2019, Bezalel Smotrich took over party leadership, winning party elections in a landslide against Ariel.[18] The party's secretary general is Ofir Sofer.[19] Ahead of the April 2019 elections, the party joined with the Jewish Home and Otzma Yehudit to create the Union of Right-Wing Parties, which won five seats in the elections, two of which went to National Union–Tkuma.

Ahead of the September 2019 elections, Tkuma and the Jewish Home agreed to form an alliance with the New Right called Yamina,[20] with Tkuma leader Smotrich receiving the third spot on the joint list.[21]

Yamina officially split on 10 October 2019 into two Knesset factions, the New Right and the Jewish Home–National Union.[22] For the 2020 elections, Otzma Yehudit and The Jewish Home agreed on 20 December to run together,[23] in an alliance later named the United Jewish Home.[24] Smotrich was critical of the move, stating that it was unlikely that the alliance would pass the electoral threshold.[25] Tkuma, The Jewish Home and the New Right reformed Yamina on 15 January 2020.[7] On 22 April 2020, it was reported that Yamina leader Naftali Bennett was now "considering all options" for Yamina's political future, including departing from Netanyahu's government, which had just agreed to a coalition government with leader of the opposition Blue and White party Benny Gantz, and joining the opposition. Bennett was said to be unhappy with the new coalition government's decision to hold back on the issue of judicial reform.[26]

On 14 May 2020, The Jewish Home's only Knesset member Rafi Peretz ended his status as a member of Yamina and agreed to join Netanyahu's new government as well.[27][28] On 15 May, Tkuma, along with the New Right, split with Netanyahu and made the Yamina alliance a member of the opposition. On 17 May 2020, Bennett met with Gantz, who also succeeded him as defence minister, and declared that the Yamina party would be a member of the opposition with its "head held high".[29]

Ideology

Tkuma is against territorial concessions. Some members support the annexation of the entire West Bank, though the official policy of the Jewish Home parliamentary faction, of which the party aligned with in the 2013, 2015, and 2019 Israeli elections, supports only annexation of Area C of the West Bank.[30] The party is considered to be far-right.[31] The party is opposed to recognition of same-sex couples on a religious basis.[32]

Leaders

Leader Took office Left office
1 Hanan Porat 1998 1999
2 Zvi Hendel 1999 2009
3 Ya'akov Katz 2009 2012
4 Uri Ariel 2012 2019
5 Bezalel Smotrich 2019 Current

Knesset election results
Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Status
1999 Hanan Porat Part of the National Union
1 / 120
 – Opposition (until 2001)
Coalition government (from 2001)
2003 Zvi Hendel Part of the National Union
2 / 120
 1 Coalition government (until 2004)
Opposition (from 2004)
2006 Zvi Hendel Part of the National Union–NRP
2 / 120
 Opposition
2009 Ya'akov Katz Part of the National Union
2 / 120
 Opposition
2013 Uri Ariel Part of the Jewish Home
4 / 120
 2 Coalition government
2015 Uri Ariel Part of the Jewish Home
2 / 120
 2 Coalition government
April 2019 Bezalel Smotrich Part of the URWP
2 / 120
 Snap election
September 2019 Bezalel Smotrich Part of Yamina
2 / 120
 Snap election
2020 Bezalel Smotrich Part of Yamina
2 / 120
 Opposition

Knesset members
Knesset term Seats Members
2015–2019 2 Uri Ariel, Bezalel Smotrich
2019 2 Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer
2019–2020 2 Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer
2020– 2 Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer

See also

References
  1. "Ayelet Shaked tells 'Post' about the dramatic turnaround in her career". Jerusalem Post. 9 August 2019.
  2. "Election Polls: 6-14 Seats for Bennett and Shaked's New Right-wing Party, Labor Party Crashes". Haaretz. 30 December 2018.
  3. In the Lead-up to the ‘Deal of the Century,’ State Department Report Codifies Administration’s Middle East Policy International Policy Digest, 24 April 2018
  4. "Is Rafi Peretz sinking his Jewish Home below the electoral threshold?". The Times of Israel. 12 January 2020.
  5. Hezki Baruch (21 February 2019). "'Union of the Right-Wing Parties' submits Knesset list". Israel National News. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  6. Raoul Wootliff (10 October 2019). "Yamina party officially splits into New Right, Jewish Home-National Union". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  7. Staff writer (15 January 2020). "Bennett, Peretz, Smotrich agree to joint run without Ben Gvir". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  8. "Parliamentary Groups in the Knesset".
  9. "Israeli Election Results- May 1999".
  10. "Factional and Government Make-Up of the Sixteenth Knesset".
  11. Shulman, Robin (5 June 2004). "Sharon Fires Two Who Oppose Gaza Plan". The Washington Post.
  12. "Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups".
  13. Meranda, Amnon (3 November 2008). "Right-wing parties unite". Ynetnews. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  14. "Hatikva Party courts Tkuma as hard-line factions fracture - Israel - Jerusalem Post". www.jpost.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  15. Ezra, Hezki (20 December 2014). "Tekuma Decides: No Split from Jewish Home". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  16. Avi Lewis (12 January 2015). "Jewish Home faction Tekumah selects Knesset candidates". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  17. "ועדת הבחירות המרכזית לכנסת ה-20 | תוצאות ארציות". 18 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  18. Magid, Jacob (14 January 2019). "Hardliner Smotrich wins race to lead influential Jewish Home sub-faction". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  19. "'All cities in the Galilee will become mixed'". Israel National News. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  20. Staff writer (12 August 2019). "United Right to run under name 'Yemina'". Arutz Sheva.
  21. Staff (29 July 2019). "New Right, United Right reach final agreement on joint run". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  22. Raoul Wootliff (10 October 2019). "Yamina party officially splits into New Right, Jewish Home-National Union". The Times of Israel.
  23. Rossella Tercatin (20 December 2019). "Religious Zionist Bayit Yehudi and far-right Otzma Yehudit to run together". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  24. "Jewish Home-Otzma Yehudit alliance reveals new name, logo". The Times of Israel. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  25. Jacob Magid (31 December 2019). "Smotrich says he won't join Jewish Home-Otzma Yehudit merger 'at any cost'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  26. Wootliff, Raoul (22 April 2020). "Netanyahu speaks with Bennett as Yamina considers joining unity government". Times of Israel. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  27. Ido Ben Porat (15 May 2020). "Rabbi Rafi Peretz signs coalition agreement with the Likud". Arutz Sheva.
  28. "Minister Rafi Peretz Leaves Yamina to Join New Government". Hamodia. 14 May 2020.
  29. https://www.timesofisrael.com/yamina-chair-says-party-heading-to-opposition-with-head-held-high/
  30. Raphael Ahren (12 March 2015). "From annexation to right of return: What the parties say about the Palestinians". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  31. Shamir, Michal; Rahat, Gideon (23 May 2017). The Elections in Israel 2015. Routledge. ISBN 9781351621083.
  32. "Religious-Zionist rabbi: LGBT culture is a 'spreading sickness'". Ynetnews. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
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