The Jewish Home Coalition

The Jewish Home was originally set up in November 2008 as a coalition of a number of right-wing national religious parties including Moledet, the National Religious Party and Tkuma. However, the different factions disputed the positions allocated to the candidates on the electoral list, leading the Moledet party and some members of Tkuma to split off to re-form the National Union party with another rightist faction, Hatikva. The Jewish Home now consists of what was the National Religious Party with elements of the Tkuma party.

The Jewish Home is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and states that Jerusalem “is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and the state of Israel solely, and will not be divided.” The party’s platform also says that the settlements in the West Bank are important for Israel’s security, should not be uprooted in the future and should remain under Israel’s sovereignty.

The Jewish Home states that it supports the privatization of government companies and will also demand to reduce manpower in the public sector. The party seeks to reduce taxes that it says hold back economic growth and encourage tax relief for productive sectors of the economy. The party also supports tax relief for large families and seeks to pass legislation on this issue.

On religious life in Israel, The Jewish Home says that it will “fight for the Jewish identity of the state on every level: culture, character, personal status, society and legislation, as a Jewish and democratic state.” Regarding issues such as civil marriage, The Jewish Home says that it will act to strengthen the current status quo, which does not permit civil marriage but will also seek alternative solutions for this “sensitive” issue.