The leaders of the national-religious Jewish Home and National Union parties renew their agreement to run together as the Union of Right-Wing Parties in the upcoming general elections.
Education Minister Rafi Peretz, who heads Jewish Home, and Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the National Union leader, call on Itamar Ben Gvir of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party to meet with them ASAP to agree on a joint Knesset run.
Otzma Yehudit was included in the URWP for April’s elections as part of an agreement engineered by Prime Minister Netanyahu, but Peretz is reportedly wary of teaming up with some of the party’s members.
In a joint statement, Smotrich and Peretz say unity among national-religious parties is needed to “in order to maximize our electoral potential and prevent the wasting of votes.”
The two also call on Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked to enter talks on forming a joint list.
Bennett and Shaked bolted Jewish Home before the last elections to form the New Right party, which failed to clear the minimum vote threshold needed to enter the Knesset. Bennett will again run with the New Right in September’s elections, while speculation has swirled over which party Shaked will end up running with.
Jewish Home party leader Rafi Peretz (L) and National Union head Bezalel Smotrich sign an agreement to renew the Union of Right-Wing Parties electoral alliance on July 9, 2019. (Courtesy)
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
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