Moledet מולדת | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Rehavam Ze'evi (1988–2001) Binyamin Elon (2001–2008) Uri Bank (2008–2013) |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Dissolved | 2013 |
| Merged into | Tkuma |
| Ideology | Ultranationalism Anti-Palestinianism Population transfer Religious Zionism (after 2001) |
| Political position | Right-wing[1][2] tofar-right[3] |
| National affiliation | National Union (1999–2013) |
| Colours | Blue andgreen |
| Most MKs | 3 (1992, 1996) |
| Election symbol | |
| ט | |
| Website | |
| moledet.org.il | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Far-right politics in Israel |
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Moledet (Hebrew:מולדת,lit. 'Homeland') was a minorright-wing tofar-right political party inIsrael.
Moledet was established byRehavam Ze'evi in 1988.[4] It won two seats in theKnesset elections later that year, taken by Ze'evi andYair Sprinzak. It joinedYitzhak Shamir'sgovernment in February 1991 and Ze'evi was appointed Minister without Portfolio. However, he resigned from the cabinet on 21 January the following year.[5] In the1992 elections, the party won three seats, withYosef Ba-Gad andShaul Gutman joining Ze'evi in the Knesset. However, Gutman left the party to establishYamin Yisrael on 27 July 1995, whilst Ba-Gad left to sit as an independent on 12 March 1996.[6]
The party won two seats in the1996 elections, taken by Ze'evi andBinyamin Elon, and supportedBenjamin Netanyahu'sgovernment, although it did not join it. On 4 March 1999, the party gained a third MK whenMoshe Peled leftTzomet to foundMehora, which he immediately merged into Moledet.[6] Prior to the1999 elections, the party joined theNational Union alliance alongsideHerut – The National Movement andTkuma. The Union won four seats, with two taken by Moledet members Elon and Ze'evi. The alliance joined thegovernment formed byAriel Sharon on 7 March 2001 after he won theelection for Prime Minister, and Ze'evi was appointed Minister of Tourism. However, he was assassinated by thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on 17 October 2001, and his seat taken byUri Ariel of Tkuma. Elon was elected party leader and assumed Ze'evi's place in the cabinet until 14 March 2002.
Prior to the2006 elections, the National Union formed an alliance with theNational Religious Party, which went on to win nine seats; Moledet again held two seats, taken by Elon and Eldad. On 3 November 2008 the party announced a merger with other members of the National Union, the National Religious Party and Tkuma to form a new right-wing party,[7] later namedthe Jewish Home. However, the Jewish Home excluded ex-Moledet members from the top slots of the candidate list for the2009 elections. Moledet then rejected the merger and joined the revived National Union. Although the Union won four seats, the highest place Moledet candidate was fifth-placed Uri Bank, who failed to enter the Knesset.
In the lead up to the2013 elections, Tkuma merged with the Jewish Home. Bank supported the merger and allowed Tkuma to continue using the letter 'Tet' on the ballot. Bank received #19 on the list and another member Jeremy Saltan received #63.[8][1]>
The party advocated encouraging voluntarypopulation transfer (as opposed to forced transfer) of theArab population of theWest Bank. While other parties, namelyKach andHerut, also advocated transfer, Moledet was the party most associated with the concept in Israel, given the dearth of other elements in its platform and Ze'evi's success in bringing together opposing political elements—both secular and religious—under the transfer flag. Unlike Kach, Moledet advocated only voluntary transfer.[9]
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Rehavam Ze'evi | 44,174 | 1.93 (#11) | 2 / 120 | New | Coalition |
| 1992 | 62,269 | 2.38 (#8) | 3 / 120 |  1 | Opposition | |
| 1996 | 72,002 | 2.36 (#11) | 2 / 120 |  1 | Coalition | |
| 1999 | Part ofNational Union | 2 / 120 |  | Coalition | ||
| 2003 | Binyamin Elon | 2 / 120 | | Coalition (2003-2004) | ||
| Opposition (2004-2006) | ||||||
| 2006 | 2 / 120 | | Opposition | |||
| 2009 | Uri Bank | 0 / 120 | 2 | Extra-parliamentary | ||
He is Israel's Tourism minister and the head of Moledet, one of the small right-wing parties that help keep Ariel Sharon in power.
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| National | |
