Religious Zionist Party
Founded in 2021.
The Religious Zionist Party is the renewed name of the National Union-Tkuma party, as well as the name of a coalition of parties that ran in the 2021 and 2022 elections, which also included two extreme right-wing parties: Otzma Yehudit and Noam.
In the 2013 and 2015 elections, the party (then called Tkuma) ran as part of a joint list with the Jewish Home party, and was a member of the coalition that supported Netanyahu’s third (2013–2015) and fourth (2015–2020) governments. It remained in the opposition under the rotation government of Netanyahu and Benny Gantz (2020–2021) and the 36th government headed by Bennett and Lapid (2021–2022), but returned to power as a senior partner following the 2022 elections, in which the list won 14 seats, seven of which went to the Religious Zionist Party. Its leader Bezalel Smotrich was appointed finance minister and minister in the Ministry of Defense, and party representatives were assigned two additional ministerial positions.
Ideologically, the Religious Zionist Party is located on the far right of the political map. It aspires to strengthen Jewish education in schools, and bolster Jewish identity and the Jewish character of the country. It advocates the principle the "Greater Land of Israel" (supports the expansion of settlement projects in the West Bank / Judea and Samaria), and calls for an aggressive defense policy. On economic issues, the party advocates liberalization of the economy and the encouragement of private initiative. On constitutional issues, it seeks to limit the power and authority of the Supreme Court, inter alia by advancing an override clause and transferring responsibility for the appointment of judges to the Knesset.
| Election Year | Votes Count | Number Of Seats | Share Of Votes | List Of Candidates | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 516,470 | 14 | 10.8 |
Candidates
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|
| 2021 | 225,641 | 6 | 5.1 |
Candidates
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Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir