From Netanyahu hails Smotrich-Feiglin alliance
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes yesterday’s announcement that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party will run jointly with Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut (Identity) in the upcoming elections, amid his push to unite small right-wing parties.
“I welcome and am pleased by the important union between Religious Zionism, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Zehut, led by Moshe Feiglin. They have demonstrated national responsibility,” Netanyahu says in a statement issued by his Likud party.
“We must not waste a single right-wing vote!” he adds.
The joint run followed pressure from Netanyahu to bring together the smaller right-wing parties to prevent votes from being lost should one or more of them fail to cross the electoral threshold.
Far-right Religious Zionism has been consistently hovering on the edge of the 3.25% electoral threshold and Feiglin’s far-right Zehut, now polling at less than 1%, failed to cross it the last time it ran in 2019.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has refused to reunite his Otzma Yehudit party with Smotrich, while former IDF general Ofer Winter, who recently launched the People of Israel party and is polling at six seats, has likewise rejected the premier’s calls to join forces.
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