Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Otzma Yehudit dismisses URWP call for talks on joint run as ‘more media spin’
The extremist Otzma Yehudit party reacts coolly to the Union of Right-Wing Parties call to immediately hold talks on another joint Knesset run, accusing URWP of “more media spin.”
Otzma Yehudit, which ran as part of URWP in April’s elections, accuses the alliance’s Jewish Home faction of violating the terms of their merger agreement and slandering it.
“We have one message: Whoever wants a tie-up doesn’t use and chuck aside,” Otzma Yehudit says in a statement.
The party says it is open to allying with other factions on the right if the mergers are “fair and appropriate.”

From left to right: Otzma Yehudit members Baruch Marzel, Michael Ben Ari, Rabbi Dov Lior and Itamar Ben Gvir at the extremist party’s campaign launch in Jerusalem on July 4, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)