Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

The Jewish Home party has a serious problem. Its debt is the largest among all the political parties in Israel relative to its representation in the Knesset, according to the report by the state comptroller.

The party's debt for the auditing period which ended March 31, 2015, was 31.5 millions shekels for the party's 8 MKs.

In comparison, the Likud party's debt was 32,8 million shekels, and Likud is the largest party in the Knesset.

The Jewish Home party's debt makes up about a quarter of the debt owed by all of the parties in the Knesset combined, despite the party having fewer than one tenth of the Knesset's 120 MKs.

Political parties have two main sources of income, property that has a certain monetary value, and their MKs in the Knesset. The parties receive funding from the state based on the number of MKs that are serving from each party. The debt the parties accrue should also be relative to the number of MKs they have. The Jewish Home party was predicted to gain 12-14 seats in the last Knesset elections, but went down to 8 seats, causing a precipitous drop in state funding for which it was unprepared.

The party accumulated 11 million shekels in debt in just 2 years and 2 months, mostly from expenditures accrued in local and national election campaigns, a figure which not even the Likud party was able to match during the same period. The Jewish Home party also had difficult relationships with employees and suppliers over financial issues due to the debt.

One thing is certain. If the party plans on becoming the largest party in the Knesset, it will first have to get its financial house in order. The current debt endangers its continued activity.