Otzma Yehudit (Hebrew: עוצמה יהודית, lit., Jewish Power) is a religious Zionist party in Israel,[1] founded on November 13, 2012 by former Members of Knesset (Israel's parliament) Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, with the former being a secularJew[2] and the latter an Orthodox Jew.[3][4]
The party is accused by different actors, particularly Western leftists, of being "far-right" and "anti-Arab".[5] They allege that the Otzma Yehudit is a successor to the banned Kach party in Israel,[4] one of whose famous followers was American-Israeli Baruch Goldstein,[6] who committed the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in which 30 – including Goldstein – were killed and 125 wounded.[6] The current leader of the Otzma Yehudit is Itamar Ben-Gvir (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר בֶּן גְּבִיר), a Kurdish-Jewish Israeli serving as the Minister of National Security of Israel.[7]
Ideology
The Otzma Yehudit believes some of the following ideas:[8]
Israeli Jewish children shall be taught to love Israel
Williams, Joanna (June 12, 2024). "Time to retire the 'far right' slur". Spiked Magazine. Retrieved December 13, 2024. Millions of Europeans have not suddenly turned into fascists. We need a new political language.
Leibovitz, Liel (March 22, 2019). "The Mystery of Baruch Goldstein". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved December 12, 2024. Twenty-five years after he massacred 29 Palestinians midprayer, the killer is more revered than ever. Why?
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