Otzma Yehudit

Otzma Yehudit עוצמה יהודית‎
Leader	Itamar Ben-Gvir
Founded	13 November 2012
Merger of	Jewish National Front Hatikva
Split from	National Union Eretz Yisrael Shelanu
Headquarters	Jerusalem
Ideology	Kahanism Ultranationalism[1][2][3] Anti-Arab racism Jewish Supremacism[4]
Political position	Far-right[5]
Religion	Orthodox Judaism
National affiliation	Yachad (2015) URWP (2019) Religious Zionist Party (2021–2022; 2022)
Slogan	"There are no rights, without duties"[6]
Knesset	6 / 120
Election symbol
נץ‎ (2013, 2020), כף‎ (2019)
Website
www.ozma-yeudit.co.il
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

Otzma Yehudit (Hebrew: עָוצְמָה יְהוּדִית) or Jewish Power^[7][8][9] is a far-right,^[10] ultra-nationalist, Kahanist^[11] and anti-Arab political party in Israel.^[12] It is the ideological descendant of the anti-Arab, and outlawed, Kach party.^{[12][11][13][14][15]}

The party advocates for the deportation of those who they consider to be the "enemies of Israel", and leader Itamar Ben-Gvir was associated with the original Kach movement, though he now disagrees with the stance of deporting all Arabs from Israel.^[16] The party has been widely described in the international press as an extremist, ultranationalist, and racist organisation supporting Jewish supremacy and has been described by multiple sources, including the Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz, as a "Jewish fascist group".^[27]

Otzma ran independently in the 2013 elections and as part of a list with ultra-Orthodox party Yachad in 2015. Though in both elections they did not manage to pass the electoral threshold, the Yachad list was around 10,000 votes short of the threshold.^[28] Ahead of the first 2019 election, the party ran with the Jewish Home as part of the Union of Right-Wing Parties, after Naftali Bennett abandoned the Jewish Home to form the New Right party. While the Union of Right-Wing Parties passed the threshold, winning five seats, Otzma only held the seventh spot on the list, as their other representative Michael Ben-Ari was banned for incitement.^[29][30] After Ben-Ari was banned, Itamar Ben-Gvir was appointed leader of the party.

The party ran independently in the second 2019 election, winning 1.88% of the vote, though some polls had predicted that the party would pass the threshold.^[31] Despite coming to an agreement with the Jewish Home to contest the 2020 Israeli legislative election as the United Jewish Home,^[32] Otzma was left to run independently when the Jewish Home, the New Right, and Tkuma re-formed Yamina.^[33] In the 2021 election, Otzma ran on a joint list with the Religious Zionist Party and Noam, as part of a deal orchestrated by Netanyahu, that would include the list receiving an extra seat from the Likud list.^[34] Following the 2021 election, Ben-Gvir won a seat, with the deal considered to have brought the party into the mainstream of Israeli politics.^[16] The party won an additional five seats in the 2022 elections.^[35]