Moledet

Moledet (Hebrew: מולדת‎, Homeland) was a small right-wing political party in Israel.

History

Moledet was established by Rehavam Ze'evi in 1988. It won two seats in the Knesset elections later that year, taken by Ze'evi and Yair Sprinzak. It joined Yitzhak Shamir's government in February 1991 and Ze'evi was appointed Minister without Portfolio. However, he resigned from the cabinet on 21 January the following year. In the 1992 elections it won three seats, with Yosef Ba-Gad and Shaul Gutman joining Ze'evi in the Knesset. However, Gutman left the party to establish Yamin Yisrael on 27 July 1995, whilst Ba-Gad left to sit as an independent on 12 March 1996.

The party won two seats in the 1996 elections, taken by Ze'evi and Binyamin Elon, and supported Benjamin Netanyahu's government, although it did not join it. On 4 March 1999 the party gained a third MK when Moshe Peled left Tzomet to found Mehora, which he immediately merged into Moledet. Prior to the 1999 elections the party joined the National Union alliance alongside Herut – The National Movement and Tkuma. The Union won four seats, with two taken by Moledet members Elon and Ze'evi. The alliance joined the government formed by Ariel Sharon on 7 March 2001 after he had won elections for Prime Minister, and Ze'evi was appointed Minister of Tourism. However, he was assassinated by the PFLP on 17 October 2001, and his seat taken by Uri Ariel of Tkuma. Elon was elected party leader and assumed Ze'evi's place in the cabinet until 14 March 2002.