Otzma Yehudit was founded on 13 November 2012 by Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, both formerly of the National Union, which they left after months of internal disagreement over holding primaries, ahead of the 2013 elections. The party initially ran under the name Otzma LeYisrael.
It is described as the ideological heir to the Kach movement, founded by Meir Kahane and banned by Israel on 13 March 1994.
Eldad led the party from 2012 to 2013, followed by Ben-Ari until 17 March 2019, when he was barred from running for the Knesset for incitement. Itamar Ben Gvir then took over the party leadership in 2019 and has retained it since.
A member of the governing coalition since December 2022, the party held 6 to 7 seats when the outgoing Knesset was dissolved. Its list of 20 candidates was submitted on 7 September 2026, with Ben Gvir at the top followed by former Likud MK Tally Gotliv; Netanyahu had pushed in August for a merger with Religious Zionism, which Ben Gvir refused.
On 24 September 2026, the Central Elections Committee rejected the requests to disqualify Otzma Yehudit; on 4 October, the High Court rejected the Democrats' appeal on procedural grounds, without examining the merits.