In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Dr. Daniel Tropper, chairman of the Keren Kehilot organization, and a pioneering founder of the Jewish Home party, said that he was very disappointed in the party's performance during this year's election campaign.
“Clearly I share in the disappointment, but it was foreseeable,” he said.
The reasons, as pointed out by the analysts, included a loss of some votes to Eli Yishai's Yachad-Ha'am Itanu Party, while others seeped off into the Likud during the last few days of campaigning.
“If people left Jewish Home for the Likud because they were afraid of the Left, that means we did not have enough of a connection with them,” Rabbi Tropper said.
“It's not enough to broadcast your agenda and proclaim that you are a right-wing, security-conscious party – you also have to make your stands on social and religious issues clear, and bring voters closer to Torah.”
The party, apparently, failed to do this, so “a strategic rethinking of our approach is necessary,” he said.
“If Religious Zionism sees itself as worthy to lead the nation, it must go beyond the small population group it appeals to.” The elections, he added, “are over and behind us, let's now answer the great challenges that have been presented to us.”