Telem (2019 political party)

In the wake of conflicts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Hebron shooting incident and Yisrael Beiteinu joining Netanyahu's coalition,[3] Moshe Ya'alon left his defense minister post in May 2016 "amidst wide-spread speculation that he would be fired by Netanyahu". On 12 March 2017, Ya'alon officially relinquished his membership of Likud, announcing that he will form a new party to challenge Netanyahu in the upcoming 2019 election. Ya'alon said "he was a soldier for Israel for decades, and he would continue to serve the public in his new party".[4]

The party was named in remembrance of former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and his party, Telem and registered on 2 January 2019 in order to contest the April 2019 Knesset elections.[5]

In advance of the April 2019 Knesset elections, Telem merged with the Israel Resilience Party and Yesh Atid. Ya'alon was positioned third on the new united list, known as the Blue & White alliance.[6] The party received five seats in the April 2019 Knesset elections, out of 35 seats that the entire alliance received. In the subsequent September 2019 Knesset elections, the party ran again as part of the Blue & White alliance and retained their five seats out of the 33 seats that the entire alliance received.

Yesh Atid and the party left the alliance on 29 March 2020 following the 2020 Israeli legislative election after the Israel Resilience Party (keeping the alliance name Blue and White) joined the government, while the two former Blue and White factions formed an independent faction in the Knesset called Yesh Atid-Telem.[7]

Yesh Atid-Telem split in January 2021, in advance of the 2021 Knesset elections,[8] though Ya'alon dropped out of the race on 1 February.[9]

Original logo introduced in 2019

Alternative logo introduced in late 2019

The party's goals as laid out by its registration papers are:[10]

• Strengthening and fortifying the State of Israel in the Land of Israel as a Jewish, democratic, secure, prosperous and moral state, while fostering Jewish-Zionist education and values and electing honest leadership committed to the welfare of the State and its citizens irrespective of religion, race, sex or gender.
• Ensuring the sovereignty and security of the State of Israel and the security of all its citizens. The party will strive to achieve true peace between the State of Israel and its neighbors.
• Supporting a free and open economy.
• Working to improve the development of the state's infrastructure and services and the welfare of the country's citizens and to reduce bureaucracy and regulation for the welfare of the citizens of Israel in all areas of life: health, education, housing, transportation, national infrastructure, settlement, agriculture, welfare, personal security and industry.
• Acting to redetermine national priorities in planning and financing, while maximizing the utilization of national resources and working to meet goals.
• Cultivating culture and sports in an egalitarian and representative manner, giving priority to the allocation of resources and investment in populations with disabilities, elderly and the youth.

The party puts a big emphasis on increasing settlement in Israel's disputed areas. During a visit to the West Bank settlement Leshem, The party's leader Moshe Ya'alon said: "It is our right to settle in the entire land of Israel".[11] Zvi Hauser, one of the party's former MKs, was the head of the Israeli Golan Coalition, an organisation which works for increasing Jewish settlement in the Golan Heights.[12]